With the price of on-campus housing rising almost as quickly as bulldozers are tearing down the walls of residence quads such as Ridgewood, more and more students are moving off campus this year. The average undergraduate rate for room and board reached nearly $9,500 during the 2006 to 2007 academic year, and the prices for housing in the Village and Ziv Quad are even more expensive.

Yet, the significantly lower price of off-campus housing (Students report paying as little as $400 to $600 a month), combined with the option not to have a meal plan and to split housing costs with roommates, is causing students to view off-campus housing as increasingly appealing.

In response to the growing number of students living off-campus, last April, Residence Life hired Nicole Fadavi, the first assistant director for off-campus housing and the first director geared specifically to off-campus housing.

Fadavi, who previously worked as the director of off-campus housing at Suffolk University and the director of recruitment at Mercy College, says her main objective is to increase communication between the Office of Residence Life and students looking for off-campus housing.

Fadavi wants to help students right from the start of their search for off-campus housing and also to act as a liaison to the community. "The best way for students to find housing is to look at our Web site and then e-mail us," she said. "They should come to my office first to look at different landlords, realtors and community members [who can] help them."

Citing the lack of organized social opportunities for students living off-campus, Fadavi plans to host events such as a "get-together social so that different commuter students can [connect] with other commuter students."

Students living off-campus can also participate in the "Stay Connected Program" in the Commuter Student Lounge in the Shapiro Campus Center every Thursday afternoon. "That is an opportunity for students to say hello and speak to me," Fadavi says. "It's like open office hours. We want to promote the Commuter Student Lounge."

Fadavi will also respond to student complaints that past ResLife workshops were not helpful or untimely. When asked if ResLife helped her with off-campus housing, Caitlin Dichter '09 said, "No, most of [the things ResLife gave out] were common knowledge I already knew."

Likewise, Andrew Giordano '08 wishes ResLife's "Knowing Your Rights" workshop on tenant rights would have occurred during the spring before he signed this year's lease.

Fadavi plans to hold another "Knowing Your Rights" workshop, a session that informs students about tenant rights involved in signing contracts, again in the spring semester.

Another potential suggestion students have regarding ways to improve ResLife's involvement in off-campus housing are compiling an organized online directory of students seeking roommates for off-campus housing. While Fadavi has not yet created an off-campus roommate database, she says she can still help students find both off-campus housing and roommates. Fadavi said many landlords contact ResLife first when they are looking for student tenants. "I've been working with landlords, realty connections and community members," she says.

Despite her many ambitions for this year, Fadavi says her greatest challenge over the past few months has been publicizing her services to students. Most students say they haven't heard of Fadavi and her new role in ResLife.

Fadavi hopes to get the word out about ResLife services and workshops through meet-and-greets in the coming spring, especially to sophomores who are new to off-campus housing. "I will start going into residence halls after winter break to give [students] more information and help them make better decisions right around room-selection time," she says.

In addition to the opportunity to utilize the new services that Fadavi and ResLife provide, students looking to move off-campus have received positive feedback from students who currently live off-campus.

Commuter students say that living off campus offers them experience outside the Brandies campus. "Brandies is a bubble," says Giordano, who moved off-campus at the beginning of this semester. "I want to live off-campus just so I don't have to see it anymore. Most people want to live off campus because of the money factor; commuter students here are not happy with [on-campus] housing."

Even international students who have limited opportunities to find off-campus housing before school starts say finding off-campus housing was relatively simple.

Graduate student Evis Farka said although she faced difficulties such as a tight budget, she was still able to find off-campus housing before school started this year. "[Finding an apartment] can be stressful and time-consuming, but it is doable," she said.

Farka also mentioned that, although she searched for off-campus housing on her own, the Heller School is especially useful in helping graduate students find off-campus housing.

"The Heller School provides a lot of opportunities for students," Farka says. The Heller School sponsors two weekends for international students to network with other students for off-campus housing.

According to Farka, international students who house-hunted in July were able to find places to live within one weekend without the aid of an off-campus housing director.

Should on-campus students worry about transitioning to off-campus living? Farka says, "There is a transition period but it doesn't make a huge difference. You just have to take care of a few things. It's not rocket science."

Editor's note: Andrew Giordano '08 is a staff writer for the Justice.