It All Comes Down to a Bottle of Ketchup

By: Jennifer Bladykas
Posted In: Entertainment

It’s that time of the year. Thanks to the wonderful New England winter season, beautiful (and less beautiful) off-campus apartments are open to Salve students for a fraction of the cost from the summer and this year’s sophomores have begun to stake a claim in Newport’s playground.

However, before deciding on an apartment, there are so many options to consider. Who will you live with? How much are you willing to pay? What about the extra expenses?

These are all questions that the VIA class of 2005 brought up in their third year course, Social Relations. When discussing their own experiences, the students in this class decided to design a set of guidelines that would help underclassman understand the whole process of moving off campus.

As students who have already had this experience, they wanted to share their thoughts, advice and even plain anecdotes to those who are actively making a decision.

The first step in the move off campus is most likely the biggest one argues the VIA class of 2005. Choosing a roommate can be as stressful as room draw freshman year and there are so many factors to consider. To make this process a little bit easier, the VIA class suggests following these guidelines for choosing a roommate.

Evaluate your own living styles.

According to Theresa Sousa, “Before you can properly choose a roommate to live with, you need to know how you like to live. Even if it seems silly, write down your daily schedule, when you like to go to bed and get up, how you expect to keep a house and even how you like to cook. Knowing what you want will make choosing someone to live with a lot easier.”

Think carefully about living with your best friends

“Best friends can make either incredible roommates because of mutual respect or they can butt heads like family and cause your off-campus living experience to become a nightmare,” continues Sousa, who suggests you consider the compatibility of both of your styles of living.

After you choose a roommate, you’re probably going to want to meet with a realtor. According to Heather Langevin and Megan O’Connor, the rental process is a huge step in the move off campus. Langevin and O’Connor suggest deciding on a price range before meeting with a realtor. Below are some questions they suggest looking into when touring different houses: