(TALLAHASSEE, FL.) - Although there is no shortage of student housing in Tallahassee, graduate students are going to have fewer housing options than ever before.
Florida State University (FSU) graduate students are only able to apply for two dorms: Ragans and Traditions Hall, where other undergraduate students are also applying for the rooms.
Many graduate students and young adults will be forced to go apartment searching with tight constraints. There are over 10,000 graduate students enrolled at FSU, most of whom will be unable or unwilling to secure on-campus housing.
Less than a third of those students will be able to secure a stipend or an on-campus position, where even the most generous stipend pays only $30,000 annually.
FSU stipends pay a minimum of $24.45 per hour for up to 20 hours a week, which equates to just under two grand each month. Most stipends are exclusively for the spring and fall semesters, meaning a graduate student may be apartment searching with less than $18,000 to spend for the year, or $1,500 monthly.
Many students unable to secure an on-campus position will be forced to take out additional loans or get a part-time job for significantly less than $24 an hour.
Very few part-time job listings in the area pay over $16 per hour, meaning a student would need to secure around 25 hours of work each week to match the stipend, which not every part-time job can guarantee.
Most students will earn less than $2,000 each month, but they will need to pay for necessities like food and transportation, as well as insurance for the first time in their lives. Most apartments will likely require students to have a cosigner to sign a lease, as they will be nowhere near the requirements to sign alone.
Apartments will require tenants to make three times the monthly rent to avoid a guarantor, meaning independent students may be looking for apartments for under $600 a month.
Photo Credit: apartments.com
After filtering by price and air conditioning on apartments.com, the search went from nearly 3,000 options to 25, many of which have poor reviews or cater to student housing. In such a case, a graduate student may be forced to share a student apartment with up to three other students to secure the appropriate price.
Photo Credit: apartments.com
The median age for obtaining a doctorate is just under 32 years old, according to a 2024 study. The same site discusses a rising dropout rate among graduate students, where poor housing conditions are a likely factor. A person unable to obtain student housing will likely require a cosigner and still need to budget tightly.
A student with a car will still need to budget for gas as well as food, which for many will be at a minimum of $50 weekly.
Even the most conservative spenders will need over $300 a month for living expenses, meaning paying rent over $1,000 a month will leave the student at ground zero on the first of each month.
After a generous amount of time searching on apartments.com, I struggled to find reasonable apartments with air conditioning, less than twenty minutes driving from FSU, and listed under $1,000.
Franklin Pointe Apartments and Aspen Runs are some of the only apartment complexes meeting the qualifications. In addition to the rent, tenants will also have to pay utilities.
With the cost of living out of reach to so many students, higher education is becoming even less accessible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please comment and reach out to jason.f@lead4earth.org
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