As of December, the requirement for first-year students to live on campus was repealed, according to Pamela Johnson, a Resident Life Program specialist at USF St. Pete.
The reversal may be due to the lack of room that forced over 70 students to live at the nearby Hilton Bayfront hotel in the fall.
In response to numerous questions from students on living prospects apart from campus, Johnson, also the coordinator of Commuter and Transfer Student Initiatives, organized USFSP’s first off-campus housing fair.
“Students ask me all the time about finding places to live off campus,” Johnson said. “I decided to make this fair so everyone could get a better idea of places that are available.”
On Feb. 9, 17 local apartment complexes and management companies are registered to attend the informational open house. For those who have perused the market, a few vendors may sound familiar, like Beacon 430, Fusion 1560 and Camden Living.
Since the businesses are independent of the school, Johnson said it will still be up to the students and rental companies to negotiate pricing and lease-terms.
Bright House Networks and USF’s Federal Credit Union will be providing services to help guide students in the transition to off-campus living.
USFSP Career Services helped organize the fair and will also have a booth set up to offer guidance to students who are searching for jobs, as the event is similar to the traditional career fair.
“I want students to continue to feel connected and participate on campus,” Johnson said. “Having Career Services there will be like a reminder of that.”
Johnson said she wanted to give students the opportunity to find information in a central location, so she compiled the list of vendors from the Know-It-All’s Guide, a large Facebook group open to the USFSP community.
She later conducted a poll that surveyed students who have lived off-campus and included some of the places that were already popular choices.
Last spring, USF Tampa’s student government adopted an online search engine where students can locate off-campus housing near the campus based on style and amenities.
The website also acts as a tool to meet potential roommates by allowing users to create and view other student profiles.
Johnson said efforts are being made to add St. Pete as a searchable area, and anticipates that the resource will be available to USFSP students soon.
Now that first-year students are no longer required to live on campus, Johnson said there may be enough room to alleviate the need for non-university spaces.
“I’ll be interested to see if the dorms will still be full next fall.”
