My Big Question is an ongoing segment exploring various topics and answering your curious questions.

Happy Week 7 students! The quarter feels like it’s closing in on us fast, but I know in reality we still have about a month to go. Keep pushing through and it’ll be worth it! And if you need it, eat some good food. 😉

This week’s big question: How do I handle housing at DU?

This is a question I received from one of my fellow editors at the Clarion. They said that they had heard a lot of students talking about how difficult the housing process is, especially for incoming second and third years due to 1) new housing process and 2) returning from study abroad.

So, I made it my mission to find out as much as I could about the housing process at DU and what the options are for next year! Let’s take a look:

For incoming second years:

You are required to complete the two-year live-on requirement that DU has set, so be prepared to fill out another housing portal application! The application for the 2023-24 school year opened on Jan. 27, but there is still plenty of time to fill it out. Here are the important dates and deadlines set forward by Housing and Residential Education (HRE):

• March 27, 2023: Housing Self-Selection Deadline and deadline for making roommate groups 
• March 27, 2023: Priority Deadline: DSP Housing Accommodation received by Housing  
• April 21, 2023: Timeslot notification goes to group leaders 
• April 24 – 28, 2023: Self-Selection Timeslots open

If any of this is confusing, don’t worry; it was for me too. Let me try to simplify it: because you are required to live on campus next year, you must fill out the housing application again and sign a new contract for the next school year, just like you did before freshman year. 

There are three buildings you can live in your sophomore year: Nelson Hall, Nagel Hall and Centennial Towers. Each building is linked so you can check out the different room options and locations. There are suite-style rooms and apartment options to choose from.. 

Pro tip: go to the HRE Office located in the lobby of Dimond Family Residential Village and ask to look at the floor plans of each dorm. You can see what is available and understand there are some funky layouts. For example, traditionally the layout is two doubles with a shared bathroom, or in the case of Towers it is a shared bathroom and a kitchen area. There are also apartment-style dorms with single rooms and kitchens, shared suites with both single and double rooms and even suites with three double rooms in them. I wasn’t made aware of all these different options, so the more information you can gather, the better.

Also, make sure you note the different prices for housing. Typically, a single room and an apartment, or both, make housing more expensive your sophomore year. Keep this in mind when selecting a space.

The next thing to do is figure out who you want to live with. This is where you will make the “roommate group” mentioned above. One person will need to be the designated group leader- this person will invite people to join the roommate group and will also be ultimately responsible for picking your housing assignment, since it’s “self-selection” for incoming second years.

Be careful about picking who you want to live with! Consider if your friends will really be the best roommates, if you want to live alone and if you want/need a kitchen. If you need housing accommodations, make sure to submit them to the Disability Services Program (DSP) as soon as possible for the 2023-24 year. The sooner they have the request the better they can accommodate your needs.

Your roommate group can be up to six students and as few as two students. You can request to live with just one person as your roommate, or you can try and have suitemates that you know as well. And, if there’s no one you really want to live with, you can be randomly assigned housing. Your roommate group leader will receive an email telling them when their registration time is, similar to registering for class, on April 21. Registration is the week after that, when you will coordinate with your leader which kind of housing to get. 

Lastly, if you plan on living in a fraternity/sorority house, you still have to fill out an online form on the housing portal and make those plans through your organization.

If you have any questions, email housing@du.edu.

For incoming third- and fourth-year students:

You have a lot more options! You are allowed to live in “on-campus,” including DU-sanctioned housing, or off-campus in an apartment or house. The application for the 2023-24 school year also opened on Jan. 27. Here are your important dates:

• March 27, 2023: Housing Self-Selection Deadline and deadline for making roommate groups 
• March 27, 2023: Priority Deadline: DSP Housing Accommodation received by Housing  
• April 7, 2023: Timeslot notification goes to group leaders 
• April 10 – 12, 2023: Self-Selection Timeslots open

If you are studying abroad and want to live on-campus just in the Winter and Spring 2024, that application opens in the housing portal on May 1. Since you’ve already been through the housing process before, I don’t need to explain how to pick roommate groups and select your rooms. The housing options do increase this year though, and you can pick to live in one of these apartment-style dorms: Ridgeline Apartments, University Lofts, University Place and Hilltop Apartments. 

All of them are apartment-style dorms offering options such as studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and four-bedroom apartments and/or lofts. The university housing options aren’t bad, but there is limited space and you must sign a contract with DU in order to live there. Prices vary greatly depending on what room you get, so make sure you check how much you’ll be paying for your apartment.

If living on-campus no longer sounds appealing, you can opt to search for an off-campus apartment or house to rent. Each comes with its own set of unique challenges. 

Apartments are typically rented in 6-month or 12-month leases; it is rare to find one that will rent to you for less than a year. This means you have to commit to stay in the apartment, if you begin renting in August, through next school year and summer. For those going abroad, this can mean that you are paying for a space that you aren’t living in, or will have to attempt to sublease the apartment to someone else in the meantime.

You can wait until you return from study abroad, or until late in the Fall of 2023, to see if you can rent an apartment starting in January. It is a risk since many students will start leasing in August, however, when I looked at apartments in November 2022 (simply out of curiosity) there were still many one-and-two-bedroom options open during that time.

Another option is looking for house rentals on websites like Zillow or Trulia. Houses can be more work, but you can also fit more people into them and it gives you the home-y feelings that dorms and college apartments can sometimes lack. 

Though rent is typically cheaper than apartments in the university area, the monthly cost of utilities is usually not included, but can run higher than $200 a month for water, electricity, wifi, etc., depending on use. Additionally, be sure to bring out the shovels after a day of snow, as homeowners are responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of the house. There is also the possibility you will be taking care of other responsibilities such as mowing the lawn and paying for items if they break.

All in all, there are many things to consider when it comes to apartments or houses off-campus: how many people do you want to live with? How much are you willing to pay? Are utilities included? Is parking included if you have a car? Are you allowed to have a pet? How close is the building to campus? How long will you be renting for? Is there furniture included? For these questions and more to consider, check out this article about questions to ask before renting.

If you have any more questions, consult the internet, your parents or your older friends who’ve rented before. If you don’t know anyone who has rented an apartment or house before, feel free to send me or the Clarion staff an email and someone who has experience can answer any questions you may have. Getting advice from others before you make a big commitment is valuable. After all, you will be spending a lot of time there. Good luck with 2023-24 housing!  

Next week’s big question: What activities can college students do off-campus?

Got a big question? Email it to me! Jacqueline.Michel@du.edu