Friday, September 16, 2016

The cost for students to live off-campus is steep—especially at the nation’s best colleges.

That’s according to a recently released analysis by Zillow, in conjunction with the unveiling of the latest U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges ranking, that reveals 80 percent of the country’s top universities are in expensive rental markets. Students at Princeton, Stanford and UC Berkeley can expect to pay the most for off-campus housing, the analysis found:

Top Colleges with Highest Off-Campus Rents

Stanford University
Stanford/Palo Alto, Calif.
U.S. News Ranking: 5 (Tied with Columbia University)
Median Monthly Rent: $6,139

Princeton University
Princeton, N.J.
U.S. News Ranking: 1
Median Monthly Rent: $4,529

University of California – Berkeley
Berkeley, Calif.
U.S. News Ranking: 20 (Tied with Emory University, Georgetown University)
Median Monthly Rent: $3,534

California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, Calif.
U.S. News Ranking: 12 (Tied with Northwestern University)
Median Monthly Rent: $2,720

University of Southern California/University of California – Los Angeles
Los Angeles, Calif.
U.S. News Rankings: 23/24 (Tied with Carnegie Mellon University and University of Virginia)
Median Monthly Rent: $2,701

Top Colleges with Lowest Off-Campus Rents

University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame/South Bend, Ind.
U.S. News Ranking: 14 (Tied with Cornell University, Rice University and Vanderbilt University)
Median Monthly Rent: $723

Washington University – St. Louis
St. Louis, Mo.
U.S. News Ranking: 19
Median Monthly Rent: $881

University of Rochester
Rochester, N.Y.
U.S. News Ranking: 32 (Tied with College of William and Mary)
Median Monthly Rent: $945

Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, N.C.
U.S. News Ranking: 27 (Tied with University of Michigan – Ann Arbor)
Median Monthly Rent: $994

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pa.
U.S. News Ranking: 24 (Tied with University of California – Los Angeles and University of Virginia)
Median Monthly Rent: $1,141 

“As students and their parents are filling out applications this fall and are crunching the numbers on financial aid and student loans, they should also factor in the cost of housing,” says Jeremy Wacksman, chief marketing officer at Zillow. “Looking at both on- and off-campus housing prices, and thinking through whether they’ll likely live with roommates or alone will help them gauge an accurate picture of the student loans and financial aid they will need in order to obtain their degree.”

Students seeking acceptance to either list of colleges should consider how rents may rise in the years they attend, and even beyond, should they enter the workforce near their alma mater, Wacksman adds. 

Source: Zillow
 

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