By: APRILL EMIG, Lake Voice Off-campus housing for UMD students averages $1,522 a month. Most students can’t afford this on their own and have to find roommates.
This is according to a survey I conducted over the week of Nov. 7, which 29 UMD students responded to.
Sixteen of the students surveyed said they felt their rent was reasonable while 13 said it was too high. No students said it seemed too low.
UMD financial aid for 2015 estimates $7,210 for housing. This is based on the cost of a standard dorm room with the highest meal plan (19 meals a week).
Breaking it down by month (assuming a 10 month school year), that allows for about $721 a month for rent and food. The average cost of rent in Duluth is $720 -- of course, this figure does not include food.
Assuming that most of these apartments house four people, the average rent for each student in these apartments would be $380 a month. This would leave $340 for food, which is likely a reasonable amount for most.
And these self-reported costs seem to align with the overall rental prices of Duluth. The average price to rent in Duluth is currently $757, according to the 2014 Housing Indicator Report.
However, the housing students find appears to be higher than a typical four-bedroom house in Duluth which averages $970 a month. This amount decreased from $1,003 in 2013.
The discrepancy may be due to students selecting higher-end housing, such as BlueStone Lofts or Boulder Ridge, both of which are apartments geared toward student populations. The former averages $850 a month per person and the latter is closer to $700.
Of course, the financial aid mentioned above only covers rent in theory. Students typically have to take out loans and wait for the surplus to reach their bank accounts. This amount is rarely enough to actually cover the cost of rent for an entire year and would require serious budgeting to work.
This is where a job comes in. On-campus jobs start at a minimum wage which is currently nine dollars an hour. To afford $720 a month, a student would have to work 20 hours a week, and that’s if they’ve found an affordable housing option and keep food costs, entertainment and bills to a minimum.
That’s where you come in. How much do you have to work to afford housing? Does financial aid or other support cover your costs? Does this survey result seem too high or low? What do you have to pay and what area of Duluth do you live in? Share your stories in the comments or email me at emigx005@d.umn.edu so we can keep this conversation going!
A google map based on the survey results documenting the rent of different areas in Duluth:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zJNx-K0HNTDI.k0997tok_wms&usp=sharing