Just in time for the start of the fall semester. HomeUnion on Tuesday released a list of the college towns with the most expensive off-campus rents. As one would expect, the schools in big cities are at the top of the expense heap. But even in smaller markets, proximity to a highly-regarded school comes at a price.
To create the list, HomeUnion analyzed the median rent within a two-mile radius of university's campus and compared it to the metro area's market-rate rent. Colleges with enrollment of 15,000 students or higher were included in the study, which also examines some of the least-expensive towns for off-campus student housing.
For the second year in a row, rents within a two-mile radius of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford University are the highest in the nation. Rents within two miles of UCLA topped out at $5,158 per month, compared to the market rent of $2,785 per month, 85.2% above market. Near Stanford, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, median rents are $6,066 per month, or 68.3% above the market rent of $3,605 in the area. Rents near Georgetown University are the third-highest in the nation: Students pay $3,433 per month around Georgetown's District of Columbia campus, 60% above market rents of $2,145.
"With many students returning to campus this month and in early September, we wanted to alert them and their families to the most expensive college campuses in the country," explains Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion. "Tuition for many institutions of higher learning is soaring, forcing students and their families to opt to reside in single-family rentals (SFRs) and other living situations off-campus. To minimize living expenses, students can rent properties further than two miles from campus or choose to have roommates in a rental home. This study illustrates where living near campus is disproportionately more expensive than the market as a whole, and off-campus housing may eat into their college savings," Hovland adds.
