As Wilmington begins to traffic more residents, on-campus requirements begin to take place and off-campus student housing begins to travel up in cost. For many students, these costs are understandable. However, for others, it adds even more of a financial strain on top of their college costs.

Meghanne Edwards, a freshman here at UNC-Wilmington, is currently living in the University Apartments with three fellow students. The cost of living in the University Apartments is roughly $3,056, which equates to approximately $1,000 a month. For Edwards, she does not find the costs of living on-campus very fair.

“I could share an apartment off-campus and my expenses would be about $700 a month, which is less than what I pay now,” says Edwards.

Although Edwards feels the apartment is well maintained and quickly fixed when needed, she also does not consider the mandatory requirement of a meal plan cost effective for her situation.

Equipped with a full kitchen, Edwards says, “I feel like I am spending way more than I need to” in regards to her current meal plan.

For upperclassmen, however, there has come an even larger push to find housing off campus. The price for living in an on-campus apartment is generally at a much higher monthly rate when broken down as opposed to a standard student housing off-campus apartment.

Holland Robinson, a sophomore living in Progress 910 apartments, has had rather mixed feelings about her living situation. For Robinson, Progress 910’s charge of somewhere around $500-550 a month per each occupied room is relatively well priced for its competitors on the market.

According to Robinson, the utilities and amenities are plentiful and well functioning. And while she does not feel her off-campus living cost is equal to her quality of living, she considers it a decent living space.

“Either I pay a less expensive amount and sacrifice the quality and luxury or I pay a more expensive price to live in a clean, well kept area,” says Robinson when comparing the costs of Progress 910 to available options of luxury student housing in the area.

Concluding her summary of housing costs, Robinson has decided against a full meal plan with the school and has instead chosen the 400 food dollars purchase.

Buying most of her groceries and spending a majority of her time off-campus, Robinson says, “I do feel that I save money by not having a larger meal plan.”

In a similar situation, Savannah Brown, a student who is currently out of session for the semester, has decided against a meal plan due to her capability of buying groceries and her minimal time spent on campus.

Brown’s commute to class was about 20 minutes not including her trek to classes from Trask parking lot, where most off-campus students will park if they are outside the one-mile radius requirement for an off-campus student to receive a parking pass.

Due to the fact the house downtown in which Brown previously lived in was built in the 1800s, her rent, which was $384 plus utilities, was “fairly cheap,” according to Brown.

The house required maintenance, but as far as Brown’s experience was concerned, her property manager was active in making sure things were fixed, which contributed to the overall quality of her living.

With her low rate of rent and absence of a meal plan, Brown did not feel a financial strain from her cost of living aside from the pricing of parking passes.

The cost of parking, however, is considered “doable” for Brown when taking into consideration the downtown proximity of “restaurants, shops and bars.”

Compared to her current living situation in Wrightsville Beach, which is double her previous rates, Brown says her downtown living situation was “the cheapest rent I’ve ever paid in Wilmington.”

Overall, the students of UNC-Wilmington are at a general consensus that meal plans are too costly, and housing at Wilmington varies from both inconvenient and cost efficient compared to other options.