Housing

On-campus housing

There are two buildings on campus that are graduate housing accommodations. One is the Graduate Living Center (aka GLC), and the other Tenth and Home. GLC apartments consist of 4 private bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a common kitchen/living room area. They are completely furnished, with a microwave, dishwasher, stove, fridge/freezer, tables, a couch... and the bedrooms have a desk, a closet, a dresser, a bed, a chair, blinds and lamps. Washers and dryers can be found on the first floor of the building. Tenth and Home apartments (1 or 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom) are completely unfurnished, but have kitchen appliances such as stove/oven, microwave, fridge/freezer, and a washer and dryer. Both GLC and Tenth and Home include an internet connection (wired only, you are not allowed to install a wireless router), and a central HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) that works well.

The rooms are from about 8-9m² to 12m² large. However, in the GLC, there are small rooms and bigger rooms, and new students usually get the smaller ones. The room assignments are such that you live together with same-sex people only. You can include some information about yourself in the application and they will try to best match profiles, but you do not have control over the assignments. Normally that is not a problem at all, though.

If you are unsure about finding a room off-campus, this is the safe alternative that won't cause you any trouble. However, the cost is above the average in Home Park (see off-campus housing): The rent for grad students in 2006/2007 is $2926/semester ($585.20/mo), all utilities included.

How do I get a room on campus?

You do no longer receive a paper application for housing in the mail. Everything is online now. There is a web page on GT housing that also lists the costs. You must make a prepayment of $600, of which $80 are a non-refundable application fee, and $520 a first portion of the rent. For details about the prepayment, refer to the New Graduate Application section.

To give you an idea of what the schedule is like, for the Fall 2005 procedure the dates are:

• I don't think there is a deadline for the housing, but the later you apply, the lower your priority in the assignment process
• Saturday/Sunday August 20/21: move-in weekend without fee (can do earlier with fee)
• Monday, August 22: first day of classes
• You have to have moved out one day after graduation, which is very inconvenient for most students

Off-campus housing

The most popular place among students for off-campus housing is a part of Midtown called "Home Park". It is the region between 10^th and 16^th street (north of the GA Tech campus) and between Atlantic and Northside Drive. It is an area with a lot of smaller homes intended for single families. It is quiet, there's almost no traffic and there are many tall old trees, making it a nice green neighborhood.

If you live there it will not take you more than 15 minutes by foot to go to campus. Most students do not own a car but ride their bicycles. Normally you share an apartment or house with one to three other roommates. All houses in Home Park come with a kitchen, a living room, and separate bedrooms, but bathrooms shared. Most rooms are unfurnished so that you are required to get you a desk, chair, and a bed. Make sure that the house has a central air conditioning (AC) or at least a window unit installed in your room and the kitchen, but do prefer the former.

The rent for a room in Home Park is in the range of $350-$500, while the largest part is at about $400 to $450. Sometimes this includes some combination of water,  garden trimming, and pest control. Especially the latter you should not disregard - the heat and humidity here promotes all kinds of life crouching on the ground, and you don't want to have that in your home. Utilities are split between the residents, so add another $40 to $70 to your rent. The quality of the buildings in terms of room layout, maintenace and cleanliness varies considerably. I urge everyone to at least look at some pictures and get in touch with current residents (tenants) if possible before signing anything.

To find a room in Home Park, you need to make sure that you come some time before the semester starts. While it is possible to find something within 10 days prior to start of classes, we recommend that you come as early as you can if you are somewhat choosy about your place. Even better it would be if you arranged something with a landlord before arrival, otherwise you might end up living in a youth hostel for a while and you'd have to choose between some left-over rooms that nobody else wanted. And just a few days before classes, it's unlikely you can still get on-campus housing.

If you want to get in touch with landlords/ladies before you come to Atlanta who rent out places in these areas just write to the following people:

• Kia Tehrani , usually pre-reserved very early.
• Greg & Sandy McBrayer: 1111A/B, 1117A/B, 1123A/B, 1127A/B McMillan St NW
• Torrence Fike
• 1079 Tumlin Street
• 1056 Hemphill Ave (6 Bedroom, 3 Bathroom, preferred GT grad students), Andrew Quisenberry: 404-353-2288
• Vadim Zaitsev (Homepark)
• If you know more contacts to landlords, please let us know.

Comparison of different areas

Here are some suggestions:

• Newsgroups. You can read the GT housing newsgroup even if you don't have a computer account yet. This is something we provide on the WSF homepage here. If you do have an account, go to the OIT FAQ to find instructions about how to set up your newsgroup client so you can also post (the news server requires authentication in all cases).
• WSF mailing list. This has become a pretty good place for online trading of furniture and rooms. It is busy during Spring and Fall terms, and especially when the end of a term approaches. Everyone can join and unsubscribe, but we ask that you do not post anything outside its intended scope.
• Craigslist. This is a good place to look for apartments (or anything else) and it is entirely free for all users. You can buy and sell anything here. Often the furniture you buy requires a car or truck though for the pick-up, if you can't agree on the seller bringing it over. The apartments or rooms advertised are for the whole Atlanta area.
• Walk around in home park and check for signs posted in front of the house that say: Room for rent. Write down all the phone numbers of places you might be interested and contact the landlord (the person/company renting the place) after your trip. Also write down, the name of the street and the house and the apartment number since landlords often rent more than one place in this area. I can also recommend to knock on the door to check with the people living in the place if the room is available. This way you can already meet the people in that place and you get a first impression.
• More outgoing people sometimes knock on the door of places that do not have sign out in front and ask if there is a place available soon. Often, the students in the house look for new roommates themselves instead of the landlord getting new people in the house. This way you are free to pick and can choose who is staying with you for some time. These students usually do not put out signs.
• Check on black boards (yes, the non-electronic version) for ads. Those black boards are scattered on campus, such as on the first floor of the Student Center (right next to Pizza Hut) or in the OIE.
• If you need furniture and you want something new, there is the brand-new IKEA Atlanta so close to Home Park you can even walk there. The other possibilities are OfficeDepot on 14th street, Target, and Staples, but for the latter two you definetly need a car.