Marketing junior Jessica Stirling says she loves her apartment.
Her roommates, applied engineering science junior Allen Baerman, civil engineering junior Tyler Dawson and Heather Ferguson, a nursing junior at Lansing Community College, all friends she's known since high school, she says their new home is luxurious compared to the residence halls.
"It's nice having your own bathroom," Stirling laughed as the roommates played their Super Nintendo on the 46" HDTV that was included with their premium unit.
The group shares a four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartment at the Campus Village Community just minutes walking distance from Brody Complex.
"It's the next step in becoming an adult," says anthropology senior Miranda Perkins, who is training to become a manager at Cedar Greens Apartments, a complex located in Frandor, an area which marks the border between East Lansing and Lansing on Michigan Avenue.
Getting off campus leads to "getting a greater sense of living on your own," Perkins said.
Calvin Winbush II, a general management senior, said while he suggests that every student stays in a residence hall for at least the first year and perhaps the second, he also recommends living in an apartment for at least a short while.
"It's a great experience (in the residence halls), but everyone should also stay in an apartment for a while. Like, the first two years in the dorms, the last two in an apartment."
A major reason Winbush moved off campus to an apartment was simple: for space.
"The rooms in the dorms were extremely small," he said while sitting in his single room in Cedar Greens.
A single bedroom apartment in the complex runs $499 a month. Even with utilities and food costs, Winbush says he saves money living in the complex.
Winbush said he lived in Spartan Village last year before moving to Cedar Greens to be closer to campus. He said he feels linked to both campus and Frandor, which he called an extension of the MSU community.
One thing missing at the apartment complex is the sense of community present on campus, Winbush said.
"I guess your community is as strong as you make it," he said.
The extra luxury that the room provides comes at a higher cost though. The standard four-bedroom apartment is $530 a month per occupant and the four-bedroom premium unit is $550 a month per occupant.
Two-bedroom standard units, with more space allocated for each occupant, are $665 a month per occupant and $685 a month for a premium unit.
Dawson and Baerman lived together on campus prior to moving into their apartment and lived next door to each other in high school, so the transition wasn't hard.
They say they know everyone on their floor, though they don't have the same amount of interaction with fellow occupants as in previous years.
"It's a more restricted community," Dawson says. "In the dorm, you can just walk down the halls and find a room to go hang out in."
While it's not the same as living in a dorm, the four roommates like being simultaneously near campus and located in a bigger scene. Close to Lansing and not far from many hangouts in East Lansing, Allen loves living in Frandor.
"It's a dream place for college students."
