Imagine trading in your closet-sized dorm room for a luxurious five-bedroom mansion… swapping your pink plastic desk lamp for glistening chandeliers, your underbed storage bins for a walk-in closet or doing your homework in a bubbling, hot whirlpool bath?
No, it’s not the Animal House, but a reality for some lucky college students enrolled at the University of California, Merced, who are opting out of on-campus dorm life for multi-million dollar homes that are available because of nationwide home foreclosures.
The New York Times recently visited the San Joaquin Valley to talk to students living the good life.
“These houses are really big and it’s really nice having your own personal space, just because there’s so many people coming in and out. It’s big enough so you can walk around and study and not be bothered,” student Ariel Hutalla said.
The university was first compelled to find a solution to their shortage of dorms. There is room for only 1,600 students in the campus dorms, but 5,200 are enrolled. With limited space on campus, student tenants are now paying discounted prices to live in the nearby four- or five-bedroom luxury estates.
An average of about 4 to 5 students live in each mansion and rent costs $200-$300 a month. Compare that with yearly on-campus room and board at $13,720 a year or roughly $7,000 off-campus, and the obvious choice for most students is clear.
“I mean, I have it all!” Patricia Dugan, a senior majoring in management, said.
But students have quickly learned some of the risks that come with their cul-de-sac life. Lance Eber, the crime analyst for the Merced Police Department, said vacant houses were frequent targets of theft and for attracting squatters, who will encamp beneath covered patios.
Jaron Brandon, a sophomore and a senator in the student government, who is seeking housemates posted this ad on Craigslist, “For a small amount more than a nameless house in the suburbs, you could be living in a mansion right by school.”