Campus housing and meal plans

[gradapp514]

I'm not in yet but considering applying to master's programs for the first time. Do most schools have campus housing options for graduate students? Is campus housing typically more or less expensive than finding your own apartment off-campus? 

What about dining hall access and meal plans?

[whiskerplot]

Most, if not all, of the graduate institutions I applied to (including my undergrad college) offer graduate housing. If you're applying to a high-rent area like in Silicon Valley or San Diego, then grad housing is typically cheaper than off campus but is also in high demand and could have a waitlist. Where I'm going, grad housing is roughly the same price as you'd find off campus, so it all depends on your location.

If grad students have the option to purchase meal plans, it would most likely be optional. Otherwise, you might be able to load some kind of campus cash onto your ID card and use that to get AYCE or a la carte meals as you wish. 

[gradapp514]

Is the graduate housing that is offered typically furnished or unfurnished? Will the school's website specify this if it offers housing or do you have to email them to ask? Is yours furnished?

[Bird Vision]

2 hours ago, gradapp514 said:

Is the graduate housing that is offered typically furnished or unfurnished? Will the school's website specify this if it offers housing or do you have to email them to ask? Is yours furnished?

This is very school-dependent. Look at the school's housing website to find all this information.

[juilletmercredi]

It might be less stressful for you to worry about this after you've applied to some programs. Since all universities vary a lot in what they offer, all the answers you'll get are going to be super broad and perhaps not very helpful to you in making decisions. You can get more crisp with the details when you select specific programs to apply to.

Another option is that you can start looking at the websites of schools you're interested in - they usually have answers to the most basic questions on their housing websites. That said, again, if you haven't narrowed yourself down to a list of schools you'll just be compiling a bunch of information that might be moot.

In my experience, dormitory-style graduate housing (you know, a single room on a corridor) tends to be furnished. Apartment-style graduate housing tends to be unfurnished. But there's a spectrum and that's not always true, so really it depends on the program and school.

Some schools offer meal plans to graduate students, but in my experience, most graduate students provide for their own meals the way you would if you weren't attending school (e.g., cooking and occasionally eating out). University cafeterias tend to be the domain of the undergrads.

[AP]

On 8/14/2019 at 2:52 AM, whiskerplot said:

Most, if not all, of the graduate institutions I applied to (including my undergrad college) offer graduate housing. If you're applying to a high-rent area like in Silicon Valley or San Diego, then grad housing is typically cheaper than off campus but is also in high demand and could have a waitlist. Where I'm going, grad housing is roughly the same price as you'd find off campus, so it all depends on your location.

If grad students have the option to purchase meal plans, it would most likely be optional. Otherwise, you might be able to load some kind of campus cash onto your ID card and use that to get AYCE or a la carte meals as you wish. 

I think only one of the schools I applied for offered graduate housing (dorms), which was furnished. 

[bitcohen]

I can't speak from experience, but my coworker with a family moved from off-campus to on-campus housing and loved it. It was cheaper than the townhouse they had been renting, and he could walk in every day instead of being dropped off by his wife.