A Guide to Living Options for UB Graduate Students

Written by: Kaitlyn He, MBA ’24

Moving to a new place can be scary, especially if you’re moving to a new state or country. It’s even more daunting when you don’t have any friends (yet!) or family members living in the area to guide you. One of the biggest concerns that students have when coming to UB is, where do I live? If you have the same concern, you’ve come to the right place.

I am originally from New York City and I moved to Buffalo about six years ago when I came here for my undergraduate studies. Because I’ve lived in Buffalo for so long, I know a thing or two about housing. I will list the pros and cons for each housing option so that you can make the best decision for yourself.

1. Living on Campus

UB has several on-campus spaces for graduate students to live in such as South Lake Village Apartments, Flint Village Apartments, Hadley Village Apartments, Creekside Village Apartments and Flickinger Court Apartments. You first need to apply for a spot and get “accepted.”

The Pros

• These apartments are on campus, so you are fairly close to all of your classes. This convenience is an absolute luxury.
• You don’t need to worry about paying for your utilities (e.g. gas, water, Internet, electric, etc.) because the semester/annual rate that you pay is all-inclusive.
• There are events and activities happening every week at your village apartment (covered by your annual/semester fees) that only UB on-campus residents can be a part of. This makes it a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and make friends.
• There is a UB bus shuttle that takes you around campus and off campus for retail shopping and grocery shopping every day of the week.
• The university takes care of any repairs you need with the apartment unit, and in the winter, the university salts the sidewalk and shovels the snow for you (something you take for granted until you live off campus in a house!).

The Cons

• It is expensive.
• Not all village apartments will let you stay during summer break. Most of the village apartments run on a one-academic year lease. If you’re an international student or a non-Buffalo student, this means you will have to find subleases for the summer if you are choosing not to go home. Be sure to apply for the full-year lease apartments if you want to live on campus and stay in the summer.

2. Living Off Campus at a Housing Village/Complex

If living on campus is not the right choice for you, you can explore housing complexes and villages around the UB campus. These are groups of apartment buildings in a community that are targeted for students; however, it’s possible that non-UB students are living in the building. Here are some housing villages/complexes that I know of: University Village at Sweethome, Villas at Chestnut Ridge, Axis 360, Villas on Rensch, Auden Buffalo, The Station Buffalo and Collegiate Village Buffalo. Please do your own research to find the place that best suits your needs and standards!

The Pros

• The lease is typically for one full year, so you can stay for summer, spring, and/or winter break.
• They tend to have more modern amenities and indoor facilities (fitness center, pool, kitchen appliances, etc.).
• They may also have their own bus shuttle system that takes you grocery shopping and such, on the weekends.
• It is usually cheaper to live in these housing villages than on campus.

The Cons

• Their bus shuttles take you to campus, but not around UB campus like the on-campus shuttles would.
• In addition to your rent, you must pay utilities, which is dependent on how much utilities you and your roommates use up in a month. The housing villages will usually cover all other utilities except for water, gas, and/or electricity. It is very important to set up your own accounts for whatever remaining utilities your housing village is not covering so that you can pay your bills on time, otherwise there will be a penalty. At the time that I lived at University Village at Sweethome, they covered all my utilities except for electric. Each housing village is different—some housing villages give their tenants a “utility allowance” and if they use up their allowance, they pay the amount not covered by the allowance—so again, it’s very important to do your own research!
• At times, the housing village’s shuttle can be unreliable and unpredictable. So, if this is your only way of getting to school, it’s very important to plan.

3. Living Off Campus in a House

If cost is your #1 concern, then living off campus in a rental house might be a suitable option for you, but this is usually not my top recommendation for prospective and incoming students.

The Pros

• The cost is usually significantly lower than the first two options.
• This could be a great option if you want to room with four or more other people because off-campus houses usually have more bedrooms compared to the first two options.

The Cons

• The expectation that rent is cheaper comes at the expense of having more people in the house, i.e. more roommates.
• These off-campus rental houses usually do not have the latest appliances.
• They also do not have a bus shuttle system or additional perks/benefits that the first two options offer.

Again, it is very important to research, research, research. Why? Because once the lease is signed, it will be very difficult to get out of it. For off-campus rental houses, I recommend talking to our Dean’s Student Ambassadors on Unibuddy who are Buffalo natives. They can recommend neighborhoods around Buffalo that are affordable yet safe.

To summarize, there are three main housing options: living on campus, living off campus in a housing village, or living off campus in a rental house. There are trade-offs to each of these options. Everyone has different priorities—whether that be convenience, cost, transportation, number of roommates or some other factor—so it’s very important to introspect and decide which choice is optimal for you.

---