4 Reasons Off-Campus Housing is Better
By Avery Thunder
Living on campus is a dream, mostly in the sense that you romanticize it in your own head. Before moving to college, living in a dorm seems really cool (not for me because I was terrified of communal bathrooms but still); you get to basically live in a building with all the people you know and campus is a step or two away. However, living there becomes painful eventually, as you realize that when you’re exhausted or looking your worst and just want to go out to get some food or head to the library, there’s a 95% chance that you’ll run into someone you know. Randomly seeing people is only fun in theory.
Then, your sophomore year comes, and you have to decide if you want to stick with student housing or venture into the Los Angeles real estate market. Then, your friends say they’re going to do student housing and because you are fundamentally a sheep who can’t think for yourself, you agree and get stuck in the most expensive and simultaneously smallest apartment in the world.
When junior year rolls around, you are forced to find a place in the area or deal with possibly being an RA in New North or something. That’s where I’m at, in my first off-campus housing experience, and I have to say that it has not been exactly ideal. When I decided to write this article, things were going quite a bit better, but I am nothing if not a committer to the bit. Although I can now confidently say that there are issues with all housing, I’ve still found a happiness living off campus that I didn’t have previously. Here are 4 reasons why off-campus housing is superior to on-campus housing at USC.
1. You don’t have to give USC more money
If you’re like me, you kind of hate yourself for attending and giving money to an institution that goes so strikingly against your long-held moral and personal values. And, yes, I am now just giving money to another organization that is gentrifying the neighborhood, but the important part is that it’s a different organization!
When I say this, I’m not just talking about rent. I’m talking about goods and services. If you live in USC housing, you’re so close to all USC run businesses. The village was on the way to campus from my place last year, and it was a lot harder to not just go grab food or groceries when it’s nearby. When you live in a different area, even if it isn’t far, you have more access to business and stores that are not affiliated with USC. You can meet people who aren’t students, and explore things that are a part of Los Angeles, not just the university. I’ve always felt trapped on this campus, but moving farther away from it does wonders for your perceived freedom.
2. Everything isn’t the same price
USC’s housing is similarly expensive across the board. In other words, you’ll find yourself paying $1600 to share a room with one person and a bathroom with three. Luckily, the rest of LA is not like this. It is still shockingly expensive, but that’s to be expected. My main point with this is that you can reasonably find your own room, or even your own apartment, without being charged a luxury rate. If you’re someone who has been wishing for more privacy, then off-campus housing is where you’ll have your chance. Plus, if you have a car, you can park it for cheaper than in a USC spot, you may be able to have pets that aren’t support animals, depending on the place. Overall, much more freedom and customization for your lifestyle.
3. You don’t have to move (if you don’t want to)
Finally, you can stay in one spot for more than two semesters! You don’t have to lug all of your stuff out of one place and into another. This is a life saver for international and out-of-state students. The uncertainty of storing things, losing items, paying too much money to leave them in LA or take them home, all go away when you have an indefinite apartment. You can move in, and expect to stay, unless you realize that your landlord is actually a crook who is intentionally scamming you and your neighbors out of thousands of dollars throughout the duration of your lease and you don’t want to break the lease and give them more money but you also can’t stand the idea of having to deal with these people for that much longer (for example).
4. You can separate your identity from USC
Being farther from campus lets you think about what your life is going to be like when you’re out of college and no longer worshiping the Trojan. Depending on who you are, this may be terrifying and demoralizing, but I think for many people it is uplifting. Being able to see a future version of yourself where you aren’t constantly grinding on work or assignments, where maybe things are a bit calmer, you’re financially stable, and the nagging voice in the back of your head that always tells you to work harder and be better is finally gone (this part will never happen), is comforting. Overall, I think living farther from USC gives you the opportunity to grow and prepare for stepping out of the school environment, which is a bit scary since that’s all most of us have been doing for 15+ years.
Unfortunately, everything is subjective, which means I can’t make broad generalizations about everyone. However, I think that for many people, living on campus is a bit suffocating. It is USC, USC, and more USC all the time. It gets exhausting, especially for those of us who are not particularly strong in the school spirit area. If you don’t relate to that, then maybe it’s time to join Greek life or something, but if you feel like that describes you, then I think you should seriously look forward to living off campus. It’ll be a lot more fun than you may be giving it credit for.
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