Off-Campus Housing | Find Your Roommate Mixer
With over 11,000 Appalachian State University students living off-campus, and that number increasing each year, Off-Campus Student Services has continued to enhance and expand its programs for off-campus students. Each academic year, we kick off the fall semester with “House Calls,” our outreach to off-campus students. This year, through the efforts of more than 60 faculty and staff volunteers, we knocked on over 2,000 student apartment doors and reached well over 5,000 off-campus students with safety information related to critical issues that impact college students.
In addition, Off-Campus Student Services, in partnership with Wellness & Prevention Services, has launched a pilot “Off-Campus Wellness Community” at Studio West, a local apartment complex that houses primarily students. Programming for the this academic year, which is presented on-site at the apartment complex, will focus on healthy eating/ cooking and stress management, two topics that off-campus Appalachian students have indicated, via survey data, that they are most interested in.
We are also providing an array of programs and presentations to help students moving off-campus find rental housing that meets their needs and to help off-campus students to connect with potential roommates. These efforts kick into high gear in the late fall and early part of the spring semester when many students are making housing decisions and signing leases for the next academic year. Some of the programs include Off-Campus Housing 101 which helps students in looking for a place to live and how to read a lease once they have found this special place. Find Your Roommate Mixer is a popular program that encourages current and incoming transfer students to get off-campus housing information and connect with potential roommates. The annual Housing Fair is a partnership with the Student Government Association where students can easily access more than 20 local rental companies to gather information about off-campus housing options. In addition, Off-Campus Student Services hosts two websites with housing resources and other information for off-campus students and maintains an active social media presence to engage off-campus students and help build community.