Outside Looking In, With No Regrets

When Brett Icahn '01 saw a for-rent sign outside an apartment above Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street during his sophomore year, he decided to check it out. After living in a dormitory in high school at Choate and then living in the Princeton dorms for a year-and-a-half, he had grown tired of the lifestyle.

And when Icahn found out that he could afford the apartment — which was equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom — he jumped at the chance to live in a single off campus.

"I didn't find the dorm situation agreeable," said Icahn, who is now living in the apartment for a second year. "My situation is great. I love living by myself and not having to deal with roommates."

At Princeton, Icahn is something of an anomaly. Only about 2 percent of the undergraduate student body lives off campus, according to Lisa DePaul, assistant director of undergraduate housing. Of these, 75 percent live in one of the 11 eating clubs and only 25 percent live in apartments or houses.

And though it might seem like students who choose to live off campus do not get the same social experience as those who opt for dorms, several upperclass students who live off campus said their apartments have been close to ideal. Despite a few minor gripes, they agreed that the benefits outweigh the negatives of living away from their fellow students.

"It is much more comfortable," said Alexandra Budny '01, who lives with Shravanthi Reddy '01 in a small cottage near Pequod. "We live like normal people. We are playing grownup — cooking our own meals, taking care of ourselves. You must live differently in dorms because there are so many people around."

"Everybody loves it who sees it," she added.

Several other students, including Reddy, agreed with the sentiment that off-campus life is more comfortable than life in a dorm room and that the proximity of off-campus apartments allows students to still see their friends.

"It's nice if you have a lot of people around and you like that," Reddy explained. "But I'm actually not very far from where my friends are in the dorms, so it's pretty easy."

She added that the 10-minute walk to most of her classes is no worse than walking from dormitories in the "junior slums" such as 1901, Henry and Foulke halls.

Reddy and Budny also noted that students at other colleges are much more likely to live off campus, but that the town of Princeton does not offer many options as far as apartments and houses. In addition, the price of real estate is more expensive than living on campus.

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Nevertheless, many students who live off campus said their apartments were worth the higher price.

"For me, it's nice to have school be separate from home," Reddy said. "To be at school for the day and to leave my work behind and relax. I do homework here sometimes, but it's a more laid-back environment."

Icahn, who lives in the same building as two other Princeton students, said he sees his other friends at his eating club and fraternity events — allowing him to keep up with the social aspect of college life. "It's really an issue of what you find to be advantageous," he said, adding that his apartment is more expensive than the dorms. "Is living next to other students and in a dorm all that advantageous? I don't think so."

The advantages, however, do not come without drawbacks. Bex Levine '01, who lives in a Nassau Street apartment with Katie Baum '01 and two other friends, said her commute to classes is a minor nuisance.

Levine said the distance she has to travel to school makes it difficult for her to return home during the day, and she usually stays on campus all day after commuting to school. "I have to bring everything that I need for the day with me in the morning," she said.

While many students live off campus for space and independence, Chris Cox '01 took a room off campus for a different purpose. He used an apartment where another Princeton student lived as an office throughout his junior year, but continued to live on-campus.

"I used the apartment as office space because juniors don't get carrels," he said, "and it is hard to get work done in the dorm or the library."

As a freshman and sophomore, he commuted home on weekends to New York City to work in a quiet environment. Cox thought he might give up his dorm room during senior year if he liked the "living style" of an apartment. But he ultimately decided he would miss the social environment of living on campus.

"I did not want to give up the spontaneous living style in which you can walk out of your room and talk to people at any time," he said. "We are at college for a reason, and that reason is for relationships. Off campus you are more cutoff from these relationships."

Arielle Notterman '04, who was raised in Princeton, agrees that living off campus would detract from the college experience.

"You would miss all the after-hours social aspects," she said. "My parents did not want me to live at home either, because it would completely take away from the college experience."

The University, in fact, feels so strongly that students have an on-campus experience that freshmen and sophomores are required to pay for room and board and have a room on campus.

"Being a part of the residential colleges is an experience all students are to have," DePaul said.

And some students who live off campus admit they miss out on some of the social interactions that occur at Princeton.

"Because I [do not belong to an eating club], it makes it harder," Budny said. "Sometimes I feel like I am on the outside."