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Off-Campus Housing Near UW-Madison
$650+/unit
Fees may applyCollegiate Campus Apartments
$699+/unit
Fees may applyHub Madison
About Off-Campus Housing Near University of Wisconsin-Madison
The University of Wisconsin-Madison sits on a narrow isthmus between two lakes, which gives 48,000 Badgers one of the prettiest campuses in the country and an excuse to be on the water constantly. The Memorial Union Terrace, with its sunburst chairs right on Lake Mendota, is the unofficial student living room from the first warm day to the last. State Street runs from the capitol to campus, a car-free stretch of bars, bookstores, and the food that defines a college town. Bascom Hill handles the postcard views, Babcock Hall scoops ice cream from the university's own dairy, and Camp Randall gets loud every fall when the band plays Jump Around. Madison routinely lands on best-college-town lists, and it earns it.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Housing Requirements
Freshman Live-On Requirement
The University of Wisconsin-Madison does not require freshmen to live on campus, making it one of the few Big Ten schools without a live-on rule. In practice, roughly nine in ten first-years choose the residence halls anyway for the social on-ramp. They then head off campus as sophomores.
Off-Campus Eligibility
There is no university approval or certification process for off-campus rentals, so you are dealing directly with Madison's private landlords from day one. The university does run Campus Area Housing, an official listing service for off-campus rentals worth a scan, though it does not vet much beyond the basics. Madison has strong tenant protections by college-town standards, and the Tenant Resource Center downtown will review a lease with you for free before you sign.
Lease Timing
Almost every lease runs mid-August to mid-August, so timing is unusually rigid here. Madison leases are full of August-specific quirks you will not see anywhere else, and a free second set of eyes from the Tenant Resource Center beats learning them the hard way. Use that review before you sign, because the lease terms you accept are the protections you get.