Prepare for 2nd year Housing

The housing situation at Purdue is in a crisis. Freshmen are guaranteed housing for their first year, but from the second year onwards, they go into a reallocation process for on-campus housing- which is essentially a lottery!

For those interested in reapplying for the 2025-26 year they can opt into the lottery through the Housing Portal from 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 14 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 22. Everyone who enters the lottery during this time “will have an equal chance at being selected,” no matter the signup date.

By October 28, you will get to know whether you have found a room on-campus for next year. If you have, you will then be assigned a time where you will be able to select your housing. Rising juniors and seniors get priority for when their time slot is after they have gotten into the lottery. When you get the chance to select, it may still not be to your liking or even within your budget. By then, most of the better off-campus housing is all gone. If you are amongst the unfortunate 3,000 students (2023 figures) who wanted to stay in the dorms, but who have missed out on a place, you are left with a difficult search for housing for the 2nd year onwards.

When you go to drop off your kid at Purdue, you should be aware of the situation, and possibly take proactive action (rather than blaming the Housing Office later on)!

Each year there are more students interested in living in University Residences than they have bed spaces for. In 2018, only 157 students didn’t get a dorm. See here.  By November 2023, it was 3,000 students!

Purdue Housing acknowledged in an 2023 email that: “Currently, there are just under 16,000 beds available in the housing system, relative to almost 39,000 undergraduates (approximately 40%). There is not enough space to accommodate every interested student. To anticipate the increasing demand, Purdue set aside over 7,500 beds for returning students – an additional 800 beds from the previous year. Historically, the return rate for students wishing to live in University Residences has been 40-45%. This year, 67% of undergraduate students living with us in the fall- an increase of 1,871 – reapplied for University Residence housing. We unfortunately have over 19,000 students searching for housing and only 16,000 rooms so some students will not be able to get housing through University Residences”.

They have done their best since then to increase dorm bed availability with 17,000 total beds now available, including the additional 986 new beds at a new residence hall on the south side of the existing Hillenbrand Hall. With housing being guaranteed for incoming freshmen, there will be “about 8,400 beds available for returning students out of 17,000 total beds’‘ for the 2025-26 year.

There is an increasing amount of freshmen student admitted every year. The high ranking of the University in the STEM fields, and with a more than a decade year long frozen tuition policy, makes Purdue a very popular choice. By promising all these freshmen guaranteed housing, there is less available for the returning students. The University has recently tried to add beds (deciding to build a new dorm), but that is still a few years off from completion. They are not helped by the local town council which hesitates to approve big towers, and thus has tended to go slow. Purdue often reacts to the alarming housing shortage by master-leasing ready buildings from private companies (such as Aspire and Fuse) but with the demand for dorms increasing at a much faster clip than the added capacity – its always a case of too little, too late.

Only recently, due largely to the outcry in the housing situation, has the admission rate dropped slightly. But for the foreseeable future, housing in dorms is not to be taken for granted for returning students! In fact, even for freshmen, there have been several incidences in the past years, where they have been housed “temporarily” at the start of the year in barrack-style housing- see here. Purdue Housing has also been forced to convert doubles to triples and quads in the past, you can search it up online.

Remember this- it is not Purdue Housing to blame. There are simply too many students for the amount of rooms available on-campus! They have never guaranteed all the students accommodation all the time!

I went (when I was there in Aug 2023) to see the Purdue Housing office (Smalley). Prior to 2023-24, dorm reapplication was opened around the end of Oct/ beginning Nov and it was staggered…whoever was allowed in first into the portal, got the pick of accommodation. Generally, the priority was based on seniority- so the senior, and then junior year students were first in and got the pick of the dorms. The sophomores, who got to choose last, got a really poor choice. So after an outcry, the Housing office had to change their system for 2023-24. They told me to wait and see what the new system will be.

It turned out for the 2024-25 year, they gave a random date and time-slot between Nov 1st-16th to all reapplying students. The selection was not based on seniority- so some sophomores also got to choose early. They also released housing in waves, instead of all at once at the start, with the noble intention that the later windows would also get some nice room choices.

However, what transpired was that, the earlier groups were allowed to swap rooms if they saw a room available that was released in one of the later waves. People got onto the portal as soon as their slot opened, chose the best room they could find and then sat on the computer refreshing the portal for the rest of the day(s) to find something that they liked better and switched. That indirectly meant that the students in the later windows were disadvantaged and the portal used to keep crashing – with so many students refreshing non-stop.

Once again, the Housing process was pilloried and so they have changed it again for the upcoming year 2025-26 year. Students will find out sooner if they have been selected for the dorms next year but with preference given to rising juniors and seniors as they will get an earlier time slot to choose their dorm room. Sophomores will, once again, have the lowest priority. Following the email announcing the 2025-26 system, a parent (Thanks! Rakesh Garg) sent a list of questions to Housing and these were the official responses:

But whatever they do, the core problem will remain- there are not enough rooms for everyone, so someone will be left with holding the parcel when the music stops! They can’t make everyone happy!

Knowing the above, and further realizing that our kid will have to endure the agony of the reapplication process every year for the next three years, we decided to look for off campus housing in the BGRi week itself.

This was super-weird; we were moving him into his dorm and simultaneously searching for accommodation for the year after! I had wanted to do this with my son- but he was totally involved in BGR- so I took off alone on the off-campus search.He didn’t have any friends yet that he could move in with off-campus, and some properties did not have a demo flat for me to look at right away.

However, taking some action proved invaluable- rather than waiting for the inevitable and postponing the pain.

These are the steps I recommend you should take like I did (before, or during, BGRi):

1. Decide whether you want to move off-campus or risk the reallocation drama: If you opt for the latter- you can ignore the further steps. However, if you seek to have a backup plan ready, then read on.
   
2. Learn about the various areas off-campus and identify the average rates payable in each area. In a section below- I have given more information about each area. However, this is a summary recommendation:
   • If cost is not an issue, I would recommend you shortlist properties that are walking distance near Chauncey- Proximity to Target and restaurants is everything when you’re too tired to go to Walmart/too tired to cook. It’s just a few minutes walking to the campus. But accommodation in Chauncey is pricey e.g. $1300-1400 per month per person. The best are Fratello Properties (Chauncey) and Fuse (New Chauncey)- I visited both and they were both great but expensive.
   • If cost is a limiting factor, then go for properties around New Chauncey such as with Morris Rentals- They are also really near the campus and that’s where my son signed a lease; or at River market Apartments on the outskirts of Chauncey.
   • If these are not available, strike further out but ensure that they have a direct bus connection to the Purdue campus with a frequent bus schedule- preferably till late night. You don’t want to be stuck in winter at the campus without a means to get back home! Lark & Alight near the Walmart have good reputations.
     
3. Identify the landlords that have a good reputation and specific properties that you can afford- you want to avoid the landlords with a poor rep! More about this later in this post.
   
4. Visit the properties/landlords and if possible, view the rooms. Otherwise get a feel as to the distance from campus, upkeep of property and general attitude of the landlord.
   
5. Find out the rent per month and what utilities are excluded and payable extra.
   
6. Register your interest by asking them to add your kid’s email to their wait list. If you are really interested (i.e. would jump at the chance to get in if offered) then say so. You may be put on a priority wait list if they are convinced as to your seriousness. This is what I did when I went to see Morris.

That’s it! Then you, the parents, leave Purdue. Ensure you leave or plan to send in the next month enough funds to pay for the deposit for the lease. Generally it is 1-2 months worth of rent that has to be paid along with signing. If this deposit is not paid, the landlord will not wait. The space will be offered to other students on the waiting list.

As early as September, landlords will be giving current lessees the first chance to extend their leases. Some students may opt to move while some may be graduating. So these now-open apartments become available for lease to those on the wait list. Once the wait lists open up, around end Sep- early October, all off-campus landlords will email their wait list. Generally those who registered their interest earlier/ on the priority wait list get an early heads-up.

For the most in-demand properties, you will have just a couple of days to view the apartments available and sign a lease as they go fast! Viewing appointments may be scarce and for landlords with a really good rep, students will often sign a lease without even viewing- as sometimes if you wait for a viewing, you often find that the few available apartments have already gone. For instance, at Morris, the apartments available went in 2 days after people on the list were notified!

Ideally, you want your off-campus lease signed between end-September and mid-October. And at the latest, by Thanksgiving. If you wait until Winter, let alone Spring semester, then your options will become extremely limited.

If you stay on campus, you don’t have to worry about rent, utilities, transportation, food, furniture, shopping, or really anything. While on-campus you pay the yearly rent for the academic year (so staying over the winter and summer breaks cost extra), for off-campus apartments, you pay a monthly rent for the full calendar year. All utilities are included the on-campus rates, but not on most off-campus apartments. So make sure you know the total you will pay for the year for off-campus housing (12 months x monthly rent plus utilities) when comparing it to the yearly total for the housing on campus.

Also most off-campus apartments come unfurnished (except for the main appliances like an oven, microwave, cooker etc). So you would need to rent or buy your bed/mattress/study table and the living room furniture like futon or a dining table.

One of the main negatives for off campus till the 2023-2024 year was that students who moved off campus could not buy a meal plan for the dining courts (they had to pay for individual full price meals). For students who preferred not to cook, or those who wanted to eat at least one meal a day at the University, this was an issue. From this year (2024-25)- with the 50 & 80-meal block plan- that is no longer the case. The per meal cost for the 50/80 track is similar to that of the 7 /10 track so one of the compulsions to stay on campus has gone. (Note that the commuter meals plans are “limited in number” and have to be bought early).

There are many advantages of moving off campus:

1. You have your own room (which you don’t unless you have a single at the dorm)
2. You have your own kitchen and living space. Often you will have your own laundry inside the apartment.
3. Cooking your own meals is much cheaper and much healthier. A typical home cooked meal will be less than $5 as compared to $12 at campus dining halls. Over the year, you can potentially save thousands… typically on Reddit, I have seen students saying you save a minimum of around $2000 a year. Plus, the health benefits are extra- if you are on campus, you would be eating junk food for 4 years.
4. You can keep your stuff over summer (which is around $100-200 per month with Guys and Dollies storage wise every summer). You also don’t have to pay more if you want to stay over breaks as you are already paying for a full year.
5. You don’t have the hassle of housing reallocation process every year.
6. If you have a off-campus house (like we selected in New Chauncey) it can actually be nearer to campus buildings than the on-campus dorms! for e.g. Engineering to McCutcheon is a 25 min walk compared to the 10min walk from my son’s new place to the same point.
7. You have more freedom in your place.
   
   All off-campus places will allow you to sign on and take over an entire apartment with your mates. Alternatively, if you don’t have someone then most places will also match you to potential room-mates and you will not be responsible if that matched room mate leaves mid-lease.

Generally, you pay more the nearer to campus you look for. Rates in Chauncey and the new high-rise buildings like Fuse around the campus are around $1,300-1,400 per month for one bedroom in a shared 2-4 bedroom apartment. You might get lucky and find an apartment in a traditional smaller block for around $800-$1,000 (but these are getting rarer and in high demand).

Further out, in West Lafayette, you will find apartments for $500-700 which are around 15-30 minutes bus ride from campus.

West Lafayette is also becoming tougher for off-campus housing. Realizing the ever-increasing demand from students, large corporates have soaked up most housing near campus, and taken over their smaller competitors. For instance, in 2023-24, Muinzer bought out 33 apartments owned by the smaller Basham Rentals and promptly jacked up rent by 30-50% (from the $600 range to around $800-900). Just 4-5 companies (Muinzer/ BK/ Granite etc) now own most of the properties around campus. The problem is that these companies are setting the market prices as what they want- four years ago the average monthly rent for walkable properties near campus was around $800 per room. This is now around $1200- 1,400!

Generally, I would advise you to look for the smaller owner-operated companies such as Fratello & Morris Rentals vs. a giant corporate. Amongst these large companies, Granite has the worst reputation from Reddit and other social media, since they have a reputation for cheap rates but then charging you for anything that goes wrong or breaks. There are stories of students moving into damaged apartments and then having to pay for the repairs, as if they caused it and losing their deposits. While not as bad as Granite, there have been instances of similar issues with BK Management and Indiana Integrity. Of the big landlords, only Muinzer have somewhat of a good reputation with Purdue Redditors.

By their nature, the large corporates are faceless and driven by profit- so that quality of construction and maintenance has gone down too. Yearly rent increases of over 15-20% are the norm. So when choosing the apartment, look at the rent history. With Morris Rentals, where my son signed, they have almost zero annual increase (i.e. matched to inflation only). See the real comments from Redditors below:

Some resources to use, other than individual apartment complex websites:

• Purdue Off-Campus Housing Site
• The Official Off Campus Housing Guide (slightly out of date).
• Boiler Apartments
• Zillow (purchase or rent)
• Realtor.com (purchase or rent)
• Trulia
• Facebook groups (However, be careful of scammers who advertise fictitious properties and run off with your deposit!)
• Friends already at Purdue
• Watch for the Purdue Housing Fair which will usually be advertised around campus and in the Purdue Exponent which has an online presence and offers free hard copies around campus.   Various housing vendors attend and provide information on what they offer, but also usually have various freebies at their tables.  You may find better housing options for you for the future.

Check your lease terms – is the contract too one-sided? If in doubt, consult Purdue Student Legal Services – a great FREE resource, for reviewing your lease contracts.

When you do arrive at your rental, take pictures when you first move in of all the rooms, appliances, etc. to show the condition at move in.   Document everything!  This will help you down the road, get your full security deposit back, if there’s no additional damage done while you’ve living in the space.  Per Indiana law, landlords must give you an itemized receipt of deductions from your security deposit, and return the remainder of the deposit within 45 days of move out.