For many college students and recent graduates, the search for good housing–with adequate property management, convenience to workplaces and classes, and a reasonable monthly rent–can feel futile. As Boston Globe’s May Spotlight Team investigation “Shadow Campus” revealed, even students who find housing are not always safe in their homes despite the costs of living in them.
These extra added costs of living off campus start to add up after a while, leaving students digging for change in their pockets to buy dinner. The financial aspect of living off campus isn’t the only issue; the security of an apartment building is very different from a dorm. At Emmanuel, there is always someone sitting at the front desk checking IDs to make sure that only students can enter the buildings. At night, a police officer mans the desk to help students sleep soundly in their dorms. Boston is a dangerous city and it’s easy to forget that when most of your time is spent inside the iron gates of Emmanuel.
“I feel relatively safe where I live off campus. Because of the recent incidents at Clemente I have been little skeptical of walking back home very late at night, but I have never felt unsafe or in danger at any point in my walks home,” says Sophomore Shanna Figlewski who lives in a two bedroom apartment on Park Drive near Clemente Field.
In the past month, Emmanuel College students have been notified of two armed robberies involving students. In the first, on Oct. 3, five students, four from Emmanuel, were robbed by a group wielding a handgun and tasers at Roberto Clemente Field, just off campus. On Oct. 19, an Emmanuel student and a student from another Boston College were robbed at gunpoint while traveling through the McLaughlin Playground on Parker Hill Ave. in Mission Hill.
The college implemented increased security measures at the start of the fall semester, requiring all students and faculty to wear their ID at all times while on campus. The measure has not proven popular with students, with few wearing their IDs.
Many students elect to stay on campus rather than hunting for apartments. At many colleges, students are guaranteed housing, and others find themselves at satellite locations or in independent housing arrangements when colleges are not able to accommodate growing student bodies. Emmanuel College’s recently published Institutional Master Plan includes 500 new beds in dorm rooms. This will ideally allow the College to be able to accommodate 76 percent of the student population, assumed to be about 2,200 students within the next 10 years.
On-campus Housing
Many students who live in dorms have mixed feelings: a positive sense of safety, and a sense of restricted independence. Sarah Riordan, 22, would prefer more independence than dorm living allows. “It would be nice to have my own space,” Riordan said. But like many of her classmates, she could not pass up the ease and simplicity of dorm living. Abby Townson, an Emmanuel senior, echoed these sentiments, saying that the independence of apartment living is growing more appealing.
“I feel safe,” says junior, Michele Levada. This is her third year living in a resident hall. Being in one of the dorms on campus means that she has 24/7 access to the school’s campus safety. These officers are on call at all time for the students and they aid in issues of concern.
“They respond to fire alarms going off,” says Levada when she referenced her next door neighbor being woken up at 6 in the morning because a campus safety officer was knocking on the door. Her alarm had been going off- blinking- and campus safety responded immediately.
Stefany Gutierrez, a sophomore, said this about living in a triple room on campus her freshman year, ” …there was never any room to do anything. My desk was under my bed which was lofted and I had no access to it. My clothes were always all over the place because there wasn’t enough storage space, our room was always a mess.” Gutierrez said that while living quarters were cramped safety was never an issue, “I always felt safe on campus with all the security even though it was overwhelming at times. Once I was chased into my room by an RD for not flashing my ID to the desk attendant.”
“We have security guards and our campus is in a relatively safe area,” Sean Speckin, a junior, says. “Also having IDs [the Emmanuel students must present an Emmanuel College ID to the front desk security guards in the lobbies of the dorms] to get into building and rooms makes it pretty secure.”
Speckin isn’t the only one who feels this way. Freshman Colleen Dauwer says “I don’t [have any safety concerns] because I see security everywhere, and there’s always someone at the front desk going into Loretto [a freshman dormitory], and including a guard after midnight. I can’t even break into my own dorm and I live there.”
Emily Baker, also a sophomore at Emmanuel who lives on campus says she finds security to be “…too aggressive and overprotective to be honest. I feel safe but the bag checks and the ID policy is a little aggressive.”
Baker also noted the issue of cleanliness in the dormitories.
“I had a mouse in my room and I didn’t even know it until one day I was eating a bag of chips and they were pouring out onto my lap and I noticed claw and scratch marks into the bag and it completely grossed me out,” she said.
Claudia Ouellette, an Emmanuel College sophomore, lives in St. Joe’s residence Hall. She says,“Living on campus is convenient, but not ideal. It can be pretty gross. The mice problem is disgusting.”
Mice have also been an issue in several of the kitchens, that are on every floor of most buildings, across campus with reports from several students.
Sarah Salerno, a sophomore, spoke on her freshman year living in the dorms. She lived next to the RA and was always called out for being ‘too loud’. This year, she says, the bathroom has been the biggest issue. In the first month someone pooped in a shower on her floor and the soap dispensers were contaminated.
The dorms aren’t ideal living spaces, but being so close to campus is a luxury.
“You cant wake up two minutes before a class and still make it from Joes to the Library on time,” says sophomore Robert R. Crowley about living off campus.
Satellite Campuses
Stephanie Jarvis ’16, lives in a satellite location CityView. This location is on St. Alphonsus Street, an approximate 15 minute walk from the college. She feels safe and when asked about potential fires and risks she says, “there are fire detectors” and that there are “locks on all the doors.. deadbolts.” It is reassuring to the students to know that they have this type of protection and access to it.
Jarvis refers to the “knobby” when talking about a mechanism developed for residents to get into their building. They have to tap it on a keypad to get in order to get into the building. If not, you have to knock on the door and talk to someone to get in.
Jarvis finds herself in a decent sized apartment- two people per room (two bedrooms), two bathrooms (1.5 baths), one living room, and one kitchen. However, she says that the apartment was not clean when they moved in and no one took that time to make sure that it was.
Emmanuel does not handle all the facilities at these apartments in CityView and Jarvis says that they have to call plumbers and the front office for issues that arise.
“One time they had to call the cable guy for us- he didn’t do anything.” Jarvis says this when referencing all the loose wires and cables that were in her apartment- posing a hazardous threat and potential fire hazard.
Jess daSilva, a junior, lives at City View. Upon moving into her apartment, daSilva was welcomed with holes in the walls and a broken dishwasher. Since moving in, daSilva and her three roommates have been faced with bedbugs as well as a mouse. It has taken two weeks to deal with the bedbugs issue, leaving the girls living out of trash bags.
Gina Stoyle, a sophomore at Emmanuel, lives off Campus in a Wheelock College dorm. Stoyle said the building as a whole is “filthy,” and would “most likely fail any type of safety inspection.”
“Even though the dorms at Emmanuel are kept in better condition I feel safer here (Wheelock) because there is security guard 24/7 and at Emmanuel there is only a guard from 12am-8am” said Stoyle.
Off-campus
There are more than 136,000 students attending college in the Boston area, with 36,500 living off campus, frequently in overcrowded conditions. While apartments turn over every year, the city does not always inspect them, leading to bug and rodent infestations and safety problems.
The series “Shadow Campus” went into detail about multiple tragedies that happened in Boston at student apartments and houses. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions were mentioned in the articles.
So why live off campus?
Money is a big component. Sometimes living off campus can be significantly cheaper than room and board on campus. Generally an apartment off campus can run for a few thousand dollars a month, which when split between four or more people is doable. Comparatively, housing on campus is $13,580 per person for a year.
“I like change,” says Emma Barker who is a sophomore at Emmanuel College. After two years of living on Emmanuel’s campus, she hopes to venture out next year to find her own apartment with some friends.
Chris Curtis, a junior at Emmanuel College, lives in an off campus house in Allston with 8 other males.
“There are no fire escapes, the doors are not dead bolted, and the house is not kept up to a good standard regarding health and cleanliness,” says Curtis.
When asked if the landlord would take care of any of these pressing safety issues, Curtis replied with, “doubtful.”
Curtis and his roommates moved off campus to have more freedom so they were no longer under the schools jurisdiction.
Sophomore Shanna Figlewski recently made the switch from Saint Ann’s hall to a two bedroom apartment on Park Drive near Clemente Field.
“I definitely have more independence from living off campus,” says Figlewski about her apartment. “I don’t have a meal plan so in order to eat I have to buy my own meal and prepare my own food, which i every different from just picking up a burger from the dining hall. I also have to pay an electric and cable bill which I have never done before.”
Mike Rainha, a junior at Emmanuel College, lived on campus for his first two years but moved into a house in Allston on Highgate Street this past September. He prefers living off campus as opposed to living in a dorm and said, “I enjoy having the freedom of my own house, all the guys take turns doing dishes and cleaning up so it worked out really well.”
Mike lives in a house with seven other guys, although there is only supposed to be six of them total. Two guys’ names are not listed on the lease for this reason. Mike explained that having more people living in the house made it more affordable.
One thing Mike really liked about his location in Allston is that they can either take the T, walk 20 minutes, drive their cars, or take their mopeds to and from campus. He appreciates having a driveway at his house so they have a safe place to keep their cars and mopeds.
Sarah Colby and Cara Callahan, Emmanuel College Class of 2015, are proud apartment renters in Allston. They moved off campus after their sophomore year, spending their junior year living in City View.
They rent a two bedroom apartment in Allston, and are very happy with how things have been turning out. Aside from a slight mice problem, which their landlord handled right away, they do not have many complaints about their living situation.
Sarah and Cara can either take a bus to their apartment, or they can take a 30 minute walk. They explained that they try to stick together for safety purposes.
Emily Shea, 22, chose her current apartment in the South End for its convenience. It is close to two major MBTA stops, so she is easily able to commute to work. A recent Emmanuel College graduate, Shea previously lived in a Mission Hill apartment. There, her property management company did not address maintenance concerns, and the tenants’ problems went unresolved. She notices a drastic change in her current apartment, where concerns are addressed quickly and efficiently.
Kristen Plummer, an Emmanuel senior, has also had positive experiences with her apartment’s property management. Her apartment in the Kenmore neighborhood is managed by Haus of Realty.
Plummer said that her Haus of Realty manager will “come right away, no matter what [the issue] is. It makes such a difference.” When one of the outer doors of her apartment building would not lock, her property manager came and fixed the problem immediately.
Carlie Capell and Kelley Turner, both of the class of 2016, live on Park Drive. These apartments are around a 10 minute walk from campus, providing they don’t get stuck at the intersections along the way. Upon moving in, both Capell and Turner were faced with the leftover grime of previous tenants.
Turner experienced mold in her bathroom along with several unknown substances, there was food still in the fridge, a sticky coating on the kitchen floor, and the walls were covered in dust. Capell experienced something similar. Thirteen people lived in their five bedroom apartment before them and left the apartment a mess. However, while Turner, her roommates, and their mothers were left to clean their apartment for six hours, Capell’s landlord called in a cleaning service.
As a graduate who found an apartment in the Fenway neighborhood, Nikki Haggan admits that while apartment living has its benefits, she misses dorm life for its convenience. As she tries to address maintenance concerns in her new building, she looks back upon the days of Emmanuel-managed housing with some sense of nostalgia. Colleges that have enough space to house all their students may be the best property managers, as generally they have an on-campus maintenance staff.
Students around Boston have expressed different levels of anxiety when it comes to the security of their living situations. “I’m on the first floor so there’s some worry that someone could break in through a window,” says Taylor Lovett, a Boston University junior who lives in an apartment on Park Drive.
It’s not just apartments that can be worrisome- students in dorms even have their share of scares. Madeline Lies, an Emerson College sophomore says that she is “a little concerned about the safety in my dorm. My room doesn’t lock and when it does, we get locked out. That’s slightly concerning. Also, Emerson implemented an ID tap system outside of every building, as every building now locks at 11:00pm. This can be really scary. The machine doesn’t always scan,” she says.
Lies’s recalls how “three weeks ago, I was coming home from a party and three men followed me, catcalling me to my dorm. I couldn’t get in for a good minute. Stuff like that’s scary.”
Chris Warren, a sophomore at Tufts University expresses concern, saying how he “sometimes [does have safety concerns] because people are always letting others who knock into our building…you don’t know why those people might be going into the building and that is kind of scary.”
This story was written and reported by Introduction to Journalism students Sarah Berggren, Samantha Bissell, Olivia Cavalieri, Caitlyn Clausen, Sophie Fish, Danielle Jamieson, Olivia Larson, Abigail Matheson, Kayla Mazzarini and Anna Topping.
Abbi Matheson 