Living in Downtown Hartford

by Alyssa Caputo
DTHartford Staff

College students find living in Downtown Hartford on Temple Street better than living on the residential side of campus. Temple Street mostly consists of upperclassmen and graduate students that feel they have done their fair share of time living on campus during their first years of college.

There are many options for students interested in living off campus. For example, students could rent a house or apartment with friends and split the cost of living.

Deborah Lebowski, the manager of Temple Street Townhouses, said, “The amount of students we get to live here has continuously grown over the years. People are seeing that living here is much cheaper than any campus and it is way nicer."

Tim Morris, a Junior at Trinity College, stated, “ It is way cheaper living off campus than it is to live on campus, even with having to buy my own food and not have a student meal plan.”

Students living on campus pay approximately $3500 to live in a dorm room and/or apartment area. Off campus students are paying about $400 a month for a ten-month lease, saving the average college student $5000-$7000 per semester.

Another benefit to living off campus is having the option of indulging in healthier food. “It is easier to run to the supermarket and grab some of the healthier food choices to cook for myself. Commons and Hawks Nest are not even close to being healthy,” said Samantha Olsteen, senior at the University of Hartford. Many students living on campus not only complain about the lack of nutritious options, but also complain about the quality of the food available.

Angela Lombardo, Graduate student at the UCONN Business School, says that she has been living on Temple Street for two years. “My favorite part of living downtown is that it feels like I am in an actual city like New York or Boston. There are so many places to eat, go out at night, and most importantly, I am a thirty foot walk to school, so I don’t have to worry about transportation.”

Students should consider their off-campus residential alternatives. The cost of attending prestigious universities like University of Hartford, Trinity College, and UCONN is high, and with the state of economy, most people cannot afford to go to college. With such a cost efficient alternative, students can save money for the costly necessities such as books needed for class.

Living in a Downtown Hartford apartment provides more space to relax in a living environment. On campus in all three schools, it is difficult for students to purchase a single room and most students are stuck living with a roommate. Some college students feel that living with a roommate can be unsanitary, challenging, and difficult when trying to do work, whereas living off campus, students are able to make their place their own.

The greatest benefit to living off-campus is that it can prepare a person for future endeavors. Managing the household along with money plays a big role in life after college. Maintaining these responsibilities will inevitably assist student’s transitions from their life in college to their life in the real world.