Students who want more freedom move to surrounding areas

Sixth in a series of stories detailing housing options available to Boston University students for the 2004-05 academic year.

As many Boston University students vie for dormitory lottery numbers, off-campus housing serves as an appealing alternative for those who enjoy many of the pleasures of BU’s finest dormitories while avoiding the much-maligned Guest Policy.

Approximately 3,000 BU students – close to 20 percent of the undergraduate population – inhabit private residences, Director of Housing Marc Robillard said in an email. While Allston, Brighton and Brookline host the majority of off-campus students, some students rent apartments in the reaches of Boston – including Beacon Hill and Downtown.

The ability for friends to come and go as they wish was one big draw to an off-campus residence for Metropolitan College junior Seamus King, who said he is leaving BU housing after this semester.

“I don’t want to have to deal with the hassle of BU, the guards, the RAs, just all the pointless small stuff,” he said.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Steve Stutsman also said he felt the Guest Policy limited his experiences at BU.

“To me, the whole point of college was to learn to be independent and the dorms limit that,” he said. “I have more rules to follow here than I do back home. Plus, I can’t stand the fact that my friends can’t come up to my room without having to fill out papers to get them into the building.”

While the current Guest Policy sends a lot of students off-campus, there are other aspects that attract them to life in Allston-Brighton.

“Besides the freedom, I’m looking forward to two main things: cable and a kitchen,” Stutsman said. “You can only take the dining hall food for so long.”

But some students are also often blinded by the advantages of moving off campus and do not realize the dangers of signing binding year-long leases, according to Tenant Organizer Steve Meacham of City Life Vida Urbana, a community tenant organization that has served Boston for more than 30 years.

“[Students] should be careful what they sign in terms of a lease,” he said. “Leases are good in the sense that they give you a predictable rent for a year, but virtually everything else in a lease is bad for the tenant.”

King echoed Meacham’s statements and warned students to review the terms of the lease before agreeing to them.

“Read anything before you sign it,” he said. “When, not if, you run into a really shady realtor, you might want to go somewhere else quick.”

Meacham also suggested that students check the residence before signing a lease to make sure the building is safe and has no damage.

“[Students] should be sure that the apartment meets the standards of city code or write down a list of things that are wrong and have the landlord sign it so there is a clear list of what went wrong when you went in there,” he said. “Above all else, you want to make sure there is a record of what was wrong when you moved in there.”

Living off campus also means living with picky landlords, Stutsman said.

“What really surprised me is that there are a lot of landlords out there that refuse to rent to guys,” he said. “We actually had one place taken away from us because the landlord found a group of girls the day before we were going to sign the lease.

“We also had places that we couldn’t even look at cause the landlord told the realtor that they were only looking for girls,” he continued.

Choosing the right residence can prove to be another adventure for students seeking off-campus housing, and Stutsman said distance from campus became a major factor in his decision.

“[Distance] was probably one of our biggest concerns,” he said. “We’re not really thrilled with the distance that we are going to be from campus, but being less than a block from the B-line helps.”

While location was important, King said he had to work with what was available through his realtor.

“I really wanted to stay in West [Campus] because I’ve lived here all through my time at BU,” he said. “I like it out here, but in terms of where our apartment is, location mattered some – but I believe we focused more on what the apartments we were shown offered us than location.”

Students should also be aware of the impact they can have on the neighborhoods in which they live, Meacham said.

“I suggest students look for a way to integrate into their neighborhoods by controlling their behavior and getting involved in local neighborhood activities,” he said. “Students living in the city is a big issue.”

Students living in private residences can have drastic impacts and have been known to cause many problems, including creating disturbances and driving up rent prices, Meacham said.