Editor's Note: This article has been updated significantly to further acknowledge the housing options available to graduate students and to include student testimonies. A previous version of this article can be found here.
Flyers recently posted on campus advertise “graduate union wins” at other universities, including raises, paid time off, and cost-of-living adjustments for Ph.D. students. The Daily Princetonian looked at the cost of living in the Princeton area for Ph.D. students.
Graduate students have many options for housing both on and off campus. On-campus housing is University-owned housing for graduate students, such as the Graduate College and graduate apartment buildings like the Lakeside and Lawrence Apartments.
On campus, there are 10 housing properties available for grad students to choose from, which generally cost less than off-campus housing. All units have different amenities from laundry, to air-conditioning and furnishing. Graduate students are guaranteed housing for their first three years, however, many move after that. According to Josef Lawrence, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemistry currently living in Plainsboro, “most students who don’t have [or] want roommates opt to live off-campus for the sake of more stability,” without having to worry about the annual room draw.
For the 2023–2024 academic year, some graduate students were housed in Walker Hall, which had previously been an undergraduate dormitory. In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote that “Because current housing policies prioritize students in earlier years of study, students in later years of their graduate studies do have a concern about having to move. This year, the University implemented a new policy for the room selection process that allowed rising G4s, or students in their fourth year of graduate school to maintain their current University housing unit.”
Graduate student housing in the Old and New Graduate Colleges can be rented for an academic year, or can be rented on a monthly basis for off-campus apartments.
The yearly price for 2023–2024 academic year ranges from $5,917 to $10,320 in the New and Old Graduate Colleges as well as the Graduate Annexes. The most affordable rooms are a walk-through double at the Old Graduate College and a single in the Graduate Annexes, whereas the most expensive options are a two-room single in the New Graduate College or double rooms and triples at the Old Graduate College.
Off campus, University-affiliated apartments range from $999 to $3,756, per month, with studios in Lawrence Apartments being the most affordable option and four-bedroom Lakeside apartments being the most expensive choice. Per bedroom, however, a four-bedroom Lakeside apartment cost $939 per month.
A one-bedroom apartment in off-campus housing ranges from $1,458 to $1,548 per month, around $1,000 per month lower than the average one-bedroom rent per month in the town of Princeton, which is$2,500 per month according to Zillow.
Due to high rent costs in Princeton, many students who do not live on campus settle for nearby townships, like Plainsboro. The average one-bedroom rental price for all property types in Plainsboro is $1,900, as opposed to $2,500 in Princeton.
According to Morrill, “Princeton provides strong financial and holistic support to graduate students including stipends that are among the highest in the nation, a variety of affordable University housing options that meet different student needs, and services and benefits that support student and family well-being. We believe this support, developed in collaboration with graduate students, helps emerging scholars realize their potential, pursue their ambitions, and break new ground in research and discovery.”
In their first year, all graduate students are guaranteed on-campus housing. Despite being guaranteed on-campus housing, not all first-years find it feasible to live on campus. Sylvia Skerry, a first-year MPA student in the School of Public and International Affairs, said that she “was not selected for … on-campus pet-friendly housing, and I was bringing my cat with me, so I had to look off-campus for housing.”
As per the University housing website, “the next two to three years, students are typically able to secure on-campus housing in apartments or dorms through the room draw process.” Priority for housing selection is given to graduate students in their lower years of study. At any given year, 70 percent of graduate students use on-campus housing.
Hao Chen, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics, wrote to the ‘Prince’ that “[he] live[s] on campus and it seems [his] wage is sufficient.”
“I think the stipend is generally enough to survive, right? Whether or not you’ll thrive, or you will be able to save money or whatever, that’s a totally different question,” said Lawrence.
Not all graduate students are able to access on-campus housing.
According to Lawrence, “living off-campus is quite expensive” as for “your standard commercial apartment complex for a one bedroom, you’re paying at least $1,800.” In Lawrence’s experience, “I’m in the so-called cheap or relatively affordable housing complex [in Plainsboro]. And it’s still $1,950 plus utilities.” Lawrence highlighted some other expenses that graduate students often have to pay for, including “insurance,” “student loan payments,” and “a car lease.”
In comparison, Skerry said “I’ll probably save $600 a month” living in Meadows next year, compared to her apartment in Palmer Square, where she currently lives. For the 2024–25 academic year, Skerry was able to secure pet-friendly housing. Morrill wrote that the University “expanded the availability of pet-friendly units in the graduate housing inventory, including at the Meadows Apartments.”
Right now, Skerry and her roommates pay $1,500 a month, which includes heating, and we pay for water and gas and Wi-Fi in addition, and parking,” the latter of which she said costs $185 per month.
Lawrence is “fortunate to not have student loans,” unlike “a lot of my peers.” Other students, however, “save money” to pay out their student loans from before Princeton, which might be an additional expense to their stipend. According to Lawrence, “apartment complexes off-campus often require minimum income-per-rent ratios,” which are difficult to meet on a graduate student stipend. “To live in my apartment complex, without having my parents co-signing on my lease, I need to be making realistically $70,000 a year.”
For those living on-campus, Lawrence stated that “the stipend is way more than enough to survive,” and that “[The University] gave us a pretty significant raise two years ago going into last year in anticipation of these union demands.”
As Lawrence remarked, “Unfortunately, as a graduate student, everyone’s experience is so different. Because your project requires different time commitments, different distance commitments, different general effort levels, each department works differently.”
When asked about how the University deals with graduate student issues, Lawrence said “Honestly, the big issue for grad students is that this place is boring. It’s tiny, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and it's expensive.”
For the 2024–2025 academic year, the ranges will be increased to $6,152 to $10,630 for the annual contracts and $1,049 to $4,644 for monthly rentals, respectively. The Meadows housing complex, which will guarantee on-campus housing for all graduate students, is set to open this spring.
Kirill Sirik is a contributing Data reporter for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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