Is Apartment Living for You?
By: Natalie Richardson
Olivet Nazarene University provides students with some off-campus options for living that allow students more freedom and allows for more friends to live together. While the Olivet housing website shows pictures of a few of the buildings, it doesn’t provide adequate descriptions of the apartments and what students like and dislike about each of them.
There are many benefits to living in off-campus housing, according to a Owlcation’s The Pros and Cons of Living Off-Campus During College. The article talks about how living off campus can provide a less stressful living space for students because it is not in the middle of campus and allows students a breath of fresh air. Students have more space to themselves and more space in general.
With dorms, students are in one room with another person and no one really gets their own space. However, some people like to have that close-knit community that dorms provide. If students are more interested in living in a dorm, they can check the article about upper-class dorm life.
If a student is an incoming freshman, the only option is to commute or stay in freshman dorms.
Owlcation talks about normal public university pros and cons of off-campus living that don’t really apply to Olivet, like cost. It says that it’s usually less expensive to live off campus but at Olivet it’s slightly more expensive because it includes a meal plan.
St. Olaf’s website states that though students will have more responsibilities and liabilities, overall you’ll have more freedom, privacy and space.
Apartment Options and Descriptions
Grand
The Grand apartments are located right behind the Centennial Chapel building and the Ward Football field. They offer relatively close proximity to campus, mimicking the “on-campus” vibes of being in the dorms, but also giving students the freedom of being off campus.
Living in Grand has allowed me to create connection and relationship with all of my residents
Bryan Dieken – Ra in grand
Stratford
The Stratford apartments are the furthest from campus and provide students the feeling of independence from campus, while also providing a close community since the apartments are only student housing and not open to the public.
Apartments as told by students
Anna Parker, a junior at Olivet Nazarene says that she enjoys having a kitchen to be able to cook her own meals. She also likes having more space to host people and be able to study.
“Also apartments are open every day as opposed to dorms that are open once a week,” Parker said. Parker is a social student and enjoys having friends over multiple times a week and living in the apartments allows her to do that.
However, on the other side of that, Parker states that the apartment community is very different from dorms and can be a difficult space to get to know people.
Interview With UP Resident: Ashlyn
Another student, Bryan Dieken, who is an RA in the Grand apartments, would advise freshman trying to decide on living arrangements for next year to get an apartment.
“I believe everyone needs to understand this level of independence before graduating from University plus it gives them time to experiment with cooking more and taking care of your own residence,” Dieken
Dieken had chosen Grand because he wanted to be an apartment RA but he also wanted to be close to campus for the community and campus activities that take place.
The Apartments
Living in the apartments has allowed me more freedom as a college student than I felt I had living in the dorms
Ashlyn Stone – Resident of UP apartments
