College Apartment Living: in a Quick and Dirty Internet Survival Guide

Here's some tips to help ease the transition.

Pack light. College life is mobile. Chances are you’ll move 3-4 times during your college career, typically into small (and often shared) living spaces. Think about that before you haul your hi-fi or your queen-sized bed frame off to school.

Keep your furniture to a minimum. You’ll often find that college student oriented housing comes furnished. If not, bear in mind that you’ll be hauling all that stuff by hand. Companies like IKEA produce light-weight furniture that is ideal for school.

Leave family heirlooms and other irreplaceables at home. College housing tends to be very public. You may find yourself sharing an apartment with people you do not know. Your roommates or their friends may not have the same standards of cleanliness or security that you’re used to. 

Inquire into how your landlord handles billing for utilities, internet, and other services. Occasionally, you may have a landlord who personally holds each roommate responsible for their portion of your apartment’s expenses. Frequently, however, you and your roommates will be responsible for deciding whose name will appear on the bills. If you’ve chosen to put the electric bill in your name, you are responsible – whether your roommates pay you or not! Don’t become delinquent on your payments- it can affect your credit score and your ability to obtain loans.

College is very public. You may find yourself sharing an apartment with people you do not know. Your roommates or their friends may not have the same standards of cleanliness or security that you’re used to.

If your college is located in a hot climate, prepare for higher electric bills in the summer. Electric bills upwards of $150 are not uncommon in hot weather, especially if you tend to keep your thermostat at low temperatures throughout the day (74 degrees or below).

Resist the temptation to turn your thermostat off during the day. You will burn more energy running your AC for hours cooling your apartment than you will just maintaining a conservative temperature throughout the entire day. Turn the thermostat up to the high 70’s if you know your apartment will be unoccupied. You and your roommates will appreciate it!

In the winter, you’re likely to see your electric bill drop and your heating and gas bills rise. You can mitigate these bills by keeping your thermostat in the low 70’s/high 60’s and by wearing warm clothing instead of turning up the thermostat.

Don’t turn off the heater. If the weather is cold enough, pipes can freeze and your landlord won’t be happy with you. You have to keep a reasonable temperature in your apartment.

Internet access in college apartments can be slow. Many older college apartments lack state of the art cabling or access points for the web, and in any case you are usually competing with your entire complex for bandwidth. As a result, you may notice a disparity between online speed tests of your connection and what you’re supposedly paying for from your internet provider.

If you are broadcasting wireless internet, be sure to set a unique user name and password for your router. Do not use the manufacturer defaults – those defaults are widely available online and can be exploited by anyone who can see your network. Pick a strong user name and password that people are unlikely to guess.

Don’t steal wireless internet. Someone who knows what they are doing can see what you’re doing on their network and can intercept your passwords and other sensitive information. Besides – it’s typically against the law.

If the internet account is in your name, bear in mind that any illegal activity that takes place on your network could be traced back to you. In recent years, law enforcement agencies have cracked down especially hard on college campuses, particularly people sharing files illegally via services such as Limewire or other peer-to-peer networks.

Make sure your roommates understand the rules before granting them access to your network.

The same rules apply at college that applied at home. Lock your doors and windows at night and when you’re not at home. Don’t assume your roommates are home or will do it for you – security in a community apartment is everyone’s responsibility.

If you have a sliding glass door, consider buying a door stop or place a broom stick at the door’s base to make sure it stays secured.

It’s a good idea to get renter’s insurance while you’re in college. Theft is not uncommon, and your landlord is not liable for your things.  You don’t need insurance for the apartment building – just for your things. They’re called renter’s or contents policies, and they’re available at most major insurance companies.

Mom is not around to make sure you take care of yourself. Some mom pointers:

1) Wash your sheets (at a minimum) every couple of weeks. You may not smell it – but your roommates will!

2) Do the dishes now. You won’t want to do them later, either, and sinks and dishes smell a lot better if the food is washed off immediately.

3) Do the laundry at least once a week, especially if you have a washer and dryer in your apartment – there’s just no excuse for wearing dirty clothes!

4) The bathroom needs a good cleaning on a weekly basis. The kitchen must be dealt with daily! Some studies indicate that the average American kitchen is actually dirtier than the average American bathroom!

5) Vacuum once a week – making sure to hit those areas behind couch cushions and other areas that quickly accumulate junk

6) The trash needs to go out daily. Every day. On a daily basis.

College apartments usually aren’t big. Clean up after yourself. Do the dishes. Tidy the bathroom. Pay your bills on time. Don’t blast the music. Be a good citizen in general. College life is a lot fun – but you can be responsible about it. Make life easier for yourself and everyone around you – be a contributor.

If you need help moving, our professional moving crew can help. Call us at 866-726-1579 or visit us online at All My Sons Moving Supplies.

Learn more about College Apartment Living from other Hubbers:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of commuting to college versus living on campus? Living at college in a dorm room is an interesting experience. You have your own "space" yet are part of a larger community when you open your door. The entire college experience is a learning trip. During the day you are learning in classrooms and once the academic day is over you return to your living space and , studying aside, learn more about who you are, who you might want to be...

College Survival Guide:  Your First Experience With College Dorm Roommates Settling in is not as difficult as you might believe. Depending on the universities facilities you might be able to choose the type of dorm you want. There are co-ed dorms with male and females on the same floor, single-sex dorms with all males or all females, quiet dorms where they are strict about the rules concerning noise, all freshman dorms with all 1st year students, mixed classes dorms where freshman's, sophomore's, juniors and seniors all so-exist, chemical-free dorms where there is nor drugs or alcohol allowed, and off-campus housing with apartments that are not on the campus.