SASHA BUKHTIYAROVA / CONTRIBUTOR

Let me paint a picture for you: it’s Aug. 31, 2023. I’m about to fly to San Diego to start my senior year at USD, and my roommates are about to move into the house we leased for the next year. At 3 a.m. on the day of my flight, I receive a text: “The house is unlivable. I don’t know what to do, but we can’t move in.” 

The house, after many, many renovations, ended up being habitable, but I spent my first month of the school year sleeping on the couch while improvements were being made. This, in turn, heavily impacted my following semester, due to starting off on the wrong foot from the outset. The USD housing application deadline is steadily approaching (applications close on March 4 at 4 p.m. — so make sure to submit your application at your My SanDiego portal). Many students at USD will soon be choosing their housing for next year. This can be the first, or one of the first, times that students are selecting their own housing situation, and it can be easy to mess up. 

Sometimes it feels like the outcome is out of your hands, or left up to chance and luck. The best way to learn is through mistakes — but it is even better if the mistakes are not your own. I’ve lived all over campus. From San Buen my first-year, crashing on multiple couches for extended periods of time in Manchester Village, then the Vistas my sophomore year, Pacific Ridge my junior year and — finally — off-campus housing my senior year. Through the years, I have definitely made my fair share of mistakes when choosing housing. So, below are some pieces of advice when choosing where to live. 

DO: Start early.

DON’T: Wait until the last minute to look for housing.

Look, I get it. Housing in six  months  may not seem like a concern now, when  midterms are coming up, you have a club event this weekend and a five-page paper due on Friday. But trust me, the sooner you start looking for housing, the more stress you save  yourself in the future.

USD junior Lily Olson has been a desk worker in housing services for almost two years now and advises students to apply early. 

“We always get calls during intersession [over summer] about people who didn’t submit their applications and desperately need housing for the next semester,” she said. “I always feel bad when I can’t help, but there’s only a limited number of beds and so many people we can accommodate for.” The easiest way to reduce the risk of being denied on-campus housing is to get your application in on time. Even if you are only tentatively sure that you might want to live on campus, it is a good idea to have your application submitted as a backup plan. 

If you’re considering off-campus housing, this holds true as well. Although it is possible to find last-minute housing, it is stressful and you’re likely to compromise your expectations just to get it done faster, as compensation for a lack of preparation. For instance, my junior and senior year I found my housing over the summer. This meant sharing a one-bedroom apartment my junior year, and living in a house that was undergoing renovations for the first three months of my lease, during my senior year. Give yourself time, and start thinking now about what you want in your living situation next year. 

DO: Talk to your roommates and establish clear expectations.

DON’T: Assume you will find everything you want in a place.

No doubt, you’ve heard the statistic released by the US News & World Report that San Diego is the most expensive city to live in in the U.S. With rent already higher than the national average, it is important to work with your roommates to establish clear expectations and boundaries for your future housing. Know what is negotiable and what is not: set limits for total expected rent, how to split rent, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking and amenities such as laundry or air conditioning. Make sure all of you are on the same page from the beginning, to save yourselves from running into problems down the line. 

Although that applies more to off-campus housing, communication between roommates is important when living on campus as well. Do you each want your own rooms? Look for single-room layouts in Manchester or San Buen. Is parking a priority for all of you? Look for space in Manchester, which has its own parking garage. Do you all want to be in more social areas where you’re likely to run into friends? The open layouts of the Vistas and Pacific Ridge Apartments facilitate neighborly interactions as you walk between buildings in open air spaces. By doing this, you can make sure everyone is happy from the beginning — and if you disagree on something important, you have time to look for alternatives. 

DO: Talk to previous tenants about their housing.

DON’T: Go in without seeing the property.

If you’ve gotten this far in this article, you’re already following this piece of advice. Regardless of if you are living on or off campus, talk to people who have previously lived there. Upperclassmen can provide some inside tips about the buildings you’re interested in — which part you should live in, things to  consider that you would never expect about the area and hidden perks or downfalls the housing option has to offer. 

This is especially important for off-campus housing. My roommates and I essentially went in blind last year, leading to the fiasco that was my Fall 2023 semester. We did not know the right questions to ask, such as, “Are there any electrical issues you know about in this house? What is the landlord’s communication like? What is parking like?” Don’t assume that the landlord is going to tell you everything; they’re running a business, and it is in their best interest to withhold information that can be used to negotiate lower rent. Be careful of scams as well; I had friends who rented a ghost property — a listing that does not exist — my junior year, and it took them months to get themselves situated in new housing while the semester was occurring. Be sure to also check if your off-campus apartment has the proper permits it needs to lease units.

Finding housing can be an arduous and intimidating process, especially the less experience  that  you have. If I can  leave you  with anything, it is to be open to any and all advice. Your peers are and have been going through the same thing as you, and their advice can be indispensable. Remember: it is always more fun to learn from others’ mistakes than your own. 

San Buenaventura offers amenities such as a putting green for residents. Photo Courtesy of @usd_reslife /Instagram