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The University of Delaware turns the small town of Newark into a true college town, where 24,000 Blue Hens and a brick Main Street basically share the same footprint. Main Street is the center of gravity: coffee shops, late-night pizza, thrift racks, and the UDairy Creamery, where the ice cream comes from the university's own herd. The Green anchors campus with the kind of open lawn built for frisbee and procrastination. Newark sits close enough to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Delaware beaches that a weekend trip is easy in any direction. Come fall, Homecoming takes over with tailgates and a sea of blue and gold. It's a classic, walkable, everybody-runs-into-everybody kind of place.
The University of Delaware requires first-year students to live on campus. Exemptions apply for students commuting from a family home nearby, but for most incoming freshmen, year one means university housing. The live-on rule is a genuine policy here rather than just a default.
There is no university approval or certification process for off-campus rentals, but the City of Newark regulates them harder than most college towns. Landlords need city rental permits, and the city caps how many unrelated people can share a house, typically four in most rental properties. Before a group of six falls in love with a five-bedroom on Cleveland Avenue, ask the landlord exactly what the property's permit allows, because over-occupancy fines land on tenants too.
After freshman year it is open season, though many sophomores stay in university housing because the off-campus timing is brutal, and most students move off campus as juniors. Most leases run roughly June to June, so budget for summer rent or line up a subletter as the standard Newark tax. UD's off-campus living resources can point you to permitted properties, but the lease you sign is a private and famously landlord-friendly one, so read it.
Housing policies change frequently. Always verify current requirements directly with University of Delaware before signing a lease.
Newark leases earlier than almost any college market on the East Coast. Houses and the popular Main Street apartments for next school year start signing in September and October of the current school year, which means students lock in junior-year housing weeks after moving into sophomore housing. Early searchers who want a house should treat fall as the real season. The houses reward the absurdly early more than any other inventory in town.
By Thanksgiving the best houses are gone, and by February you are choosing from what is left. The peak crunch runs through late fall as groups race to claim the walkable houses near Main Street. Most students at UD chasing a specific house are competing hardest in this stretch. Fall semester starts in late August, but the leasing race for the following year is effectively over months before that.
Starting late or transferring in still leaves options, because the larger complexes off South Main Street and Elkton Road hold inventory longer than the houses do. Sublets from students going abroad surface every semester, giving flexible searchers a way in. UD's spring semester starts later than most schools, in early February after a five-week winter session, which matters if you are timing a spring move-in. Late searchers should target complexes and sublets rather than the marquee houses, which are long gone by then.
Apartments above the shops and restaurants, with zero commute and maximum noise.
The classic student-house row a few blocks north of campus, where groups of friends land year after year.
The larger apartment complexes a short bike ride out, usually a notch cheaper than the houses.
Common questions from students searching for housing.
Shared rooms in Newark typically run $650-$900/month. Houses split among four people land mid-range; Main Street apartments above the shops push the top of it. Most leases are 12 months, so factor summer rent into the real annual cost.