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First Apartment Guides
First time renting? Step-by-step guides to finding, applying for, and moving into your first off-campus apartment as a student.
Best Student Housing Websites for First-Time Renters (2026)
For a first-time renter, the best student housing website shows your per-bed share and a separate management score before you pay anything — which is why Find My Place leads, with 17,524 verified student reviews across 8,208 properties as of August 2026.
First Apartment Mistakes College Students Make (and How to Avoid Them)
The costliest first apartment mistakes college students make are financial and legal: budgeting on rent alone, skipping the lease fine print, and signing a 12-month lease over a 9-month school year. Here's how to avoid each one.
The First College Apartment Checklist: Everything You Actually Need
A room-by-room first college apartment checklist: the bed, kitchen, bathroom, and cleaning essentials you need on night one, the shared items to coordinate with roommates, and the boring stuff everyone forgets.
First Apartment Checklist for College Students: Everything You Need (and What You Don't)
The real first apartment checklist for a college student is shorter than the internet wants you to believe: a bed, a way to cook and eat, cleaning supplies, somewhere to sit, and renters insurance cover the first week. Furnishing from scratch runs about $800 to $2,000 if you buy smart and secondhand.
ASU Freshman Housing Requirement: Can You Live Off Campus?
ASU expects every first-year to live on campus. Married students, domestic partners and students with dependents are automatically exempt; everyone else needs University Housing approval.