Accommodation

[Henry Kocatekin]

Hi,

What do people reccommend, living on campus or sharing a place off campus?

[K888]

Hey there!

I'm living on campus at Monash this year (although I am based at the Peninsula campus, I do have friends living at Clayton). Honestly, for your first year of uni - I'd really recommend it. You get to step out by yourself and get your own independence, but you also are doing it with a bit of safety.

You don't have to worry about potentially getting a dodgy landlord, you get campus security, you have utilities included in your rent, you get to meet heaps of new people and make a lot of new friends, you get to do heaps of on-res activities, you don't have to travel to uni, common areas are cleaned by cleaners - I could list the benefits for the next week!
I think a big benefit, though, is that you have people like RAs (resident advisors - students in older year levels who are kinda like mentors, they're your first port of call for help usually), and your College Head/Deputy College Head (responsible adults who are the head honchos of the hall you're living in - they're there to oversee the runnings of the hall basically, and also provide support, etc. - really great for advice when you don't know what to do, etc.). So, if you're in a bit of a sticky situation - you have people you know you can get help from.

In my opinion, the Monash rent is pretty decently priced for the benefits you get. It's certainly not the most expensive rent around, and like, sure, you could find cheaper stuff around, but when you have to pay all the bills alongside your rent, it probably adds up to a similar price.

That being said, if you have some mates you'd be happy to live with, or have found a decent place to live off campus - don't be afraid to do that. Personally, though, I'd be worried about the potential for conflict between housemates (without someone there to resolve it), the potential for high noise levels, not being able to get a place to rent (landlords can be reluctant to give their places over to young uni students haha) and all that.

If you're thinking about living on campus next year, I'd probably give MRS (Monash Residential Services) a call and ask them a few questions, and maybe see if you could get a tour or something.

But yeah, res life all the way!
Hope this has helped