bigtyper ([info]bigtyper) wrote in [info]oberlin,
@ 2005-11-30 21:46:00
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Houses, etc.
Hey, so I was thinking about starting to look for housing for next year, off-campus. I was wondering whether the rent for most off-campus houses are pretty similar, or if the range is pretty wide. Also, does one usually contact the current residents, and then the landlord, or do you usually go straight to the landlord?

Thanks!

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(Anonymous)
2005-12-01 03:05 am UTC (link)
you might want to talk to reslife.

last i heard, seniors are NOT guaranteed off campus housing next year. only about half the number that are off this year are supposed to get off next year.

seniors are signing leases and (under the current plan) are going to find out, come march, that they are still on campus and must get out of their lease.

not enough students know about this terrible change. tell your friends, tell your parents, tell every prospie you see, and make sure that reslife knows that you (and everyone else you've told) are unhappy with the change.

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[info]merikus
2005-12-01 03:21 am UTC (link)
i think this new housing plan is really short sighted.

i was off-campus both my junior and senior year. it was great because it taught me how to live in the real world, while i still had something of a support network. i learned to get my bills in on time (well, mostly :D ), deal with landlords, and manage living in a house.

i think dorms are great, as they can create really good communities, and some people really love living in them. but, at the very least, those seniors who want to try living on their own in something simulating the real world should have an opportunity to do so. the very idea that they can keep seniors on campus against their will en masse is just really creeply authoritarian to me.

right now, i can't figure out who i like better--nancy dye or fred starr.

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[info]burdenofdreams
2005-12-01 03:39 am UTC (link)
I suppose living off campus might be preferable but I never understood the argument that living off campus was a good experience for the real world. I paid my bills this morning and just got done filing my taxes. It sucks. Why would I want experience for this bullshit before it is absolutely necessary - to me that would be like hoping for prostate pain in your twenties so you know what your fifties are all about.

As to the issue above re: signing a lease before you know if you are let off campus - I doubt any landlord would actually pursue a lawsuit if you could not fulfill the terms of your lease. I bet they would threaten and send something to your house but I am highly doubtful they would do more then that. I am sure finding someone else to take your spot (with your help) would be preferable compared to pursuing something in court against a student who might not have that much in assets to go after and would take many months to resolve.

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[info]violety6
2005-12-01 07:36 pm UTC (link)
well, when you are a college student, the chance that you have someone looking out for you, (a parent perhaps, or some kind of safety net) are much better than later on. it helps. i was much better off finding a place to live post-graduation than i would have been if i'd never had to do it before.

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[info]natasha_fawn
2005-12-01 03:44 am UTC (link)
I don't think that's really possible, with the amount of housing we have right now. The plan for new housing was tabled for the moment, and I doubt that next year's freshman class is going to be smaller by enough to open up that much housing on campus for seniors.

Besides, everything on the website currently says that seniors are guarenteed off campus. I realize that they're bad at updating, but since it still says that and rising seniors have already started looking for off campus housing, they're being negligent if they plan to change it for next year. In addition! I came to this school knowing that seniors are guarenteed off campus housing. It would be unfair, not to mention false advertising, for them to change it now. And yes, I'm planning to make a stink about it if they try to deny me off campus.

(Of course, this is all just my humble opinion, and if anyone has any REAL information, I'd appreciate hearing it.)

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[info]ursiflora
2005-12-01 04:08 am UTC (link)
i got something in my ocmr about it today! it says: you need to live in college housing for 6 semesters (or through your junior year for transfers). being on an academic leave of absence gets you residency credit (this last part i know some people have been worried about).

it also says "if the number of requests exceeds the number of students able to live off-campus a lottery system will be implemented" but i would guess that, given the housing situation you mentioned above, that's pretty unlikely. i bet if you've been here 6 semesters, you may as well be officially guaranteed off-campus.

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[info]msgootch
2005-12-01 04:41 am UTC (link)
There will be a story in the Review about it coming out this Friday.

Basically, no, seniors are no longer guaranteed off-campus. From the student handbook this year (which they no longer give out in print to students and which seems rather difficult to find on the oberlin website):
All students are expected to live and take meals on campus unless released in writing by the Assistant Director for Housing Administration. Students should not sign an off-campus rental lease or pay a security deposit without written notification of release

All students are expected to live in College housing for six semester of full time study or through the junior year for transfer students. A limited number of students who meet the six semester residency requirement may be released to off-campus (town) housing based on a lottery system.

Because no juniors will be released to off-campus next year, there will be less people applying. These are the official numbers:
"Under the old credit system there would be approximately 775 students eligible for release to off-campus. Under the new semester in housing residency system there would be approximately 640 students eligible for release to off-camus. There is a reduction of approximately 135 students for off-campus release who have not lived on campus for three years. It is estimated that approximately 465 students will be able to be released to off-campus housing for 2006-2007."

Also, a lot of people are extremely angry at ResEd about this policy, but it's actually a top-down decision made by the board of trustees, ResEd does not get a choice in the matter. If you want to yell at somebody, take it to the board of trustees.

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[info]natasha_fawn
2005-12-01 05:06 am UTC (link)
Thanks. It's good to have real information, even if it isn't what I wanted to hear. :/ (Any idea if the "lottery system" is based on class rank, or just totally random?)

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[info]msgootch
2005-12-01 05:10 am UTC (link)
"Lottery numbers will be assigned to each person within each semesters of residency category."

I'm not sure if that means everyone who's a 1st semester senior in one group, everyone who's a 2nd semester senior in another group, or it just means everyone who's eligible for off-campus in one big group. Probably the latter, if I had to guess.

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Off-Campus Haunted House..
(Anonymous)
2005-12-01 04:26 am UTC (link)
I remember a while back, I was living in a haunted house off-campus while having a bad dream. I was being chased by a vampire. I remember running down this big hall lined with plastic and jumping out of a two-story window. When I jumped out of the window, I hit the ground and leaped over a fence. By no means am I afraid of vampires. but I am afraid of haunted houses. The house is still so clear to me. It was big, gray with black shutters and a red door. It was sooo creepy!!!


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[info]msgootch
2005-12-01 04:47 am UTC (link)
When I was looking for a place, I started with the rent book. You can check it out at Wilder Desk or you can look online: http://www.oberlin.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/opirg/blandlord.php. It'll give you an idea about the price ranges, I think they're usually between $250-$400 a month, some rents include utilities, others don't.

Your best bet is probably to contact the landlord directly instead of contacting the current residents.

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Oberlin Rent Book
(Anonymous)
2005-12-01 09:24 pm UTC (link)
The Oberlin Rent Book is great: http://www.oberlinrentbook.org/

The link in this post is to the main page. Please fill out a survey if you are living off campus.

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Hi bigtyper,
(Anonymous)
2005-12-01 05:26 am UTC (link)
Haunted house in dreams signifies repressed memories and unacknowledged feelings. The gray color and black shutters of the house all lend to the mysteriousness and dreariness of the house. The red door is significant for the color red symbolizes life energy (blood), fiery passion, and anger. The door is one of the livelier aspects of the house. Your eye is immediately drawn to the door, inviting you to come in. Your dream seems to suggest that you need to pay more attention to these repressed feelings.
Vampires also represents life energy. After all, they thrive on the blood of humans. Additionally, they signify aggression and lust. Vampires themselves are mysterious and denote unacknowledged parts of your mind. You said it yourself that you are not afraid of the vampire, but fearful of the haunted house. Houses in dreams represent the Self. In particular, haunted houses mean the rejected or repressed parts of the Self. What you are afraid of may be confronting these aspects of yourself. The Vampire may function as the guard of the house who prevents you from exploring it.
Little is mention of your off-campus friends. Were they being chased as well? Where they in the haunted house? Could they represent people from the past who you want to forget? Let's not forget that living off-campus with odd characters can be fun and make us laugh. Ha! Ha! Their appearance in your dream may be an attempt to lighten the mood of your creepy dreams...Best Regards, JR

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