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Butler University packs about 5,500 Bulldogs onto a green campus on the near north side of Indianapolis, where the Central Canal meets the city. Holcomb Gardens spreads twenty acres of hillside over a small lake, and the Canal Towpath runs behind it as a five-mile walking and biking path. Basketball is the heartbeat, played in Hinkle Fieldhouse, a National Historic Landmark where the crowd sings Back Home Again in Indiana before tip-off. The Monon Trail links campus toward Broad Ripple, so students bike and walk the city instead of driving it. Neighborhoods like Butler-Tarkington and Meridian-Kessler keep historic homes and tree-lined streets, while Broad Ripple brings the nightlife. Downtown's a quick trip, giving Butler a small-campus feel in a real city.
Butler has a multi-year residency requirement, so all first-year students who are not living at home with a parent or guardian must live in University housing. Students are generally required to live on campus for six semesters before moving off. That means freshmen and sophomores are typically in the residence halls.
Once you are eligible, off-campus housing is mostly a junior and senior move into the Indianapolis rental market in the neighborhoods around campus. You will find everything from historic houses to newer apartment communities. Because demand from upperclassmen clusters in a few areas right around campus, the closest houses get locked in early, so plan your timing and roommate group well ahead.
Leases are usually 12 months, so plan and budget across the full year. Many student rentals near campus are houses run by local landlords, so terms and upkeep vary, and you will want to read the lease for who handles utilities, lawn care, and snow. Confirm parking, since street parking rules vary by neighborhood.
Housing policies change frequently. Always verify current requirements directly with Butler University before signing a lease.
Because Butler's residency requirement pushes most students off campus as juniors, the off-campus hunt is concentrated and competitive in the blocks right around campus. Upperclassmen tend to start lining up houses and roommate groups very early, often in the fall a full year ahead. The best houses in Butler-Tarkington and nearby get claimed through winter. Lock your roommate group first, since the good houses go to organized groups that move early.
Classes start in late August, but the real competition for close-in houses peaks much earlier, through the fall and winter of the prior year. If you want a place within easy walking distance, treat the search as a fall-of-the-prior-year project rather than a summer scramble. Demand concentrates in Butler-Tarkington and the blocks right around campus. Most students at Butler who want a walkable house have committed by winter.
Apartment communities a bit farther out, like in Broad Ripple or SoBro, stay available later and can absorb students who search in spring or summer. Sublets and lease takeovers show up around graduation and during study-abroad semesters. That is a real fallback if you are searching late or only need part of the year. Widen your search beyond the closest blocks if you start late.
The neighborhood right around campus has historic homes and student houses, the most walkable pick. Meridian-Kessler, the tree-lined historic district just south, mixes houses and apartments.
The nightlife and shopping village a few miles off is livelier and pricier, linked to campus by the Monon Trail. SoBro, between campus and Broad Ripple, offers apartment communities and good value.
A tiny, quirky enclave by the canal and river, quiet and close to campus. It suits students who want a calm spot still within reach of class.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
A room in a shared house near campus usually runs about $650-$1,000/month per person, with historic Butler-Tarkington houses and SoBro apartments at the lower to middle end and newer Broad Ripple units higher. A private one-bedroom often lands around $1,100-$1,500/month. Budget another $60-$140/month for utilities depending on the house and whether anything's included.
Other universities in Indianapolis share a similar off-campus housing market.
Indiana University Indianapolis sits with roughly 29,000 students in the heart of downtown Indianapolis, so the whole city works as the campus backyard. The urban core hugs the White River and the Central Canal, where the three-mile Canal Walk gives students a place to run, bike, or paddle a pedal boat between classes.…
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