NC State students are being forced to find ways to afford living off campus due to continuous increases in student apartment rent prices. According to WRAL, rent prices in the Raleigh area have risen by 14.3% from last year, making the cost of student housing less accessible. 

Margaret Edel, a third-year studying animal science, currently lives in the Uncommon Raleigh apartment complex on Hillsborough Street with her four roommates. She said the increase is creating a challenge for those looking for student housing close to campus. After living in an on-campus sorority house last year, Edel said she enjoys off-campus living because of its freedom, but the rent and other charges add up. 

“I think I pay like $850 a month, which is pretty standard for all the apartments, but the parking really adds on,” Edel said. “I pay $150 for parking, so in total, my rent is over $1,000.”

Edel said she’s noticed an increase in rent prices from only a few years ago. 

“I lived in Uncommon my freshman year, and my rent was $50 cheaper, and I know for my roommates, their rent was $150 cheaper their freshman year,” Edel said.

Edel said even with rent prices climbing, there is no guarantee the apartments will be well-furnished or even comfortable. 

“Every single apartment doesn’t look the same,” Edel said. “There are a lot of things that need fixing in our apartment. [It] was built incredibly fast. Like in less than a year, and you can see that it was sloppily built because in every apartment we’ve been in, there’s been little cracks or damages [to it].” 

Edel said the complex will need to do a lot of work to fix the problems tenants are having.

“They said that they are going to have to do a big maintenance update on a lot of the apartments because everyone’s having problems with things like slanted cabinets or painting … [and] foundational problems,” Edel said.

Erin Kelly, a second-year studying political science, currently lives with her three roommates in Stanhope Student Apartments. She pays $1,020 per month for rent and parking. Although she enjoys living off campus, she believes that without financial help, it would be almost impossible.

“There is no way as a college student that I would be able to keep a full-time job to pay rent and attend school,” Kelly said. “As high as rent is, working part time would not cover it.” 

She also said the complex is unclear about rent price changes.

“Two weeks after we moved in [to Stanhope], they began sending us emails saying if we didn’t resign our lease for next year, the rent would be increasing,” Kelly said. “They at no point told us how much it would increase by.”

Edel said some students are opting to move back on campus. University Housing reported an increase in applicants for the 2022-23 school year. Other students are taking on new jobs, finding new roommates or renting houses farther off campus.