Even though it is only early March, students already struggle to find housing for Fall semester.
This early in the winter, challenges such as high rent prices, the competitive market, and overcrowding in the city already pose challenges for students trying to find a place to live.
Audrey Overly, a Brigham Young University-approved housing resident, said, “In February/March, people were asking me in my classes if I had already found housing for fall and I had no idea I was supposed to be doing that so I was shocked and felt very unprepared.”
BYU students typically lock in their fall housing plans as soon as February. Wait much longer, and waitlists fill up. Some of Provo’s most popular apartment complexes have waitlists that stretch years into the future.
The majority of BYU’s 33,000 students migrate to Provo in the fall, making it difficult to land a contract in the limited number of BYU-approved housing options. Not to mention, as demand rises, so do rent prices.
“I feel like because there are limited places, people just raise the price and I wish that they would remember that we’re students and some of us can’t work as much as we want to,” said Overly.
As BYU-approved housing complexes raise rent, students complain that living conditions are not worth the price. Lack of renovation and maintenance throughout Provo leaves the quality of living lower each year. Finding a place to live that has convenient parking, sufficient cleanliness, and a suitable social life all in one is a difficult task for students living in a college town, leaving students feeling defeated.
“I just wish that more housing places would just kind of understand the situation students are in and not take advantage of us just because they can,” said Overly.
Students are hoping for decreased rent and improved housing conditions in future years at BYU.