As March unfolds on Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus, the first thing on students’ minds, even before midterms, is where they will live next year. Around 44% of students live in one of the university’s 14 residential buildings, and the highly competitive process of housing selections will begin in the coming weeks.
Many students have to weigh the endless pros and cons of their housing options before they can make this decision. Finding roommates (especially to fill apartments), deciding whether to live on-campus or off-campus and securing the least expensive housing option are three of the most common factors Fordham students consider. Each of these and more are questions students are rushing to answer before their deadline for housing decisions arrives.
A significant number of Fordham students have continued to move off-campus, usually after their freshman year. Since last year, there has been a decrease in the number of students living on-campus, and Sophie Barr, FCRH ’27, is one of these students choosing to move into off-campus housing.
Barr currently lives on-campus in O’Hare Hall.
“There are a lot of pros to living on-campus, like RA [Resident Assistant] programs and proximity, but I’m ready for a change,” she said.
Despite being satisfied with her current housing situation on campus, she notes that having more kitchen facilities, especially in dormitories with no apartment-style rooms, would have made her experience better. She and her future roommates worked with LandSeAir Real Estate Group (LSANY) to contact a broker who helped them set up tours and answer all of their questions regarding housing options.
“The process was smooth. We were able to contact a broker named Isam, and he was a great help. He was also our point of contact between us and the landlord, and ultimately, helped us sign a lease for our new place,” Barr noted.
Many students like Barr are eager to move off-campus so they can ensure they get into housing that has a kitchen and individual rooms, which are things some Fordham students are not guaranteed during their four years.
However, there is still a large portion of students who prefer to remain in Fordham on-campus housing. Mackenzie Colvin, FCRH ’26, currently lives in Fordham’s Belmont Community Housing (BCH), which is Fordham-sponsored apartment-style housing that is not physically on-campus.
“Living in BCH has been perfect because I get to experience physically leaving campus everyday which makes me feel less claustrophobic,” she said.
Despite BCH not being traditionally on-campus, it offers the same services that traditional on-campus Fordham housing would, including the use of work orders.
“Another reason I choose to stay in Fordham-sponsored housing is because repairs are much easier to fix. We had an issue with our plumbing this year, and all we had to do was put in a work order and it was resolved. Having this service has made situations like that far less stressful,” Colvin added.
Colvin mentioned that she wished her current housing included laundry units and air conditioning, but that the lack of these things is not enough to stop her from living in BCH next year.
“My roommates and I are hoping to keep our current apartment through the retention process, but as always, we have a back-up plan in case we hit obstacles in the housing selection process,” she said.
