How Will Housing Marking in College Towns Fare Post-COVID?

Distance learning and COVID-19. This combination is every parent’s worst nightmare. It creates the perfect storm of stress, madness, and desperation. But, parents are making the best out of a terrible situation because education can’t be put on hold due to a global pandemic.

The real question is what if you have kids in college? The question many people have is regarding COVID-19’s impact on college towns.

HomeLight’s Q3 survey reveals that the coronavirus has left college towns in a tough spot. Local businesses such as bars and restaurants rely heavily on college students to keep business afloat. However, 2020’s fall semester has proven to be more detrimental than some would expect.

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University towns become ghost towns

Many colleges and universities have shifted from in-person learning to distance learning and sent their students home. The result of the mass exodus has rendered many of these towns a proverbial ghost town.

According to insights from top agents who participated in HomeLight’s Q3 2020 survey, this student housing market in these cities are predicted to increase from 5.2% during the 2019 fall semester to 7.4% in 2020’s fall semester. Unit vacancies have increased by 1% during that time and because of this, property owners will have no choice but to lower their rental fees just to get people through the door.

Some towns are unaffected

Although some major universities said they were discontinuing in-person learning in favor of remote learning, there are universities who are keeping in-person classes. In these towns, landlords are likely to see an influx of rental applications if/when on-campus housing closes.

Real estate investing is on shaky ground

For real estate investors, buying rental properties in college towns seems like a gold mine – especially if the rent is going to be cheaper than an out-of-state student paying for room and board on campus. For example, the average monthly rent for Ann Arbor, Michigan is about $1,600 and room and board at University of Michigan is $11,996.

Now, room and board at the university may be cheaper, but when you factor in other living expenses, it could add up quickly. However, if four students rent a 4-bedroom apartment that costs $3,300 per month… Each student would pay $825 per month or $9,900 per year, which is quite a bit cheaper, especially when you factor in that the students aren’t staying on campus the entire year.

Inventory fluctuates

Thirty percent of real estate agents that participated in the survey state the rental vacancies in their area have either stayed the same or are starting to decline. Even though the housing market in a particular area may differ from others, 81% of agents said their inventory is at an all time low, despite the fact that many landlords are selling their rentals.

The truth of the matter is this, COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of our lives and the housing market in university towns remains on shaky ground. As more students and faculty contract the virus, universities are closing their doors and students are going home. Even students who live off campus are leaving the area and are going back home to save money.

Local businesses in university towns are suffering due to a lack of patronage. Unless schools open back up in a safe manner, who knows what the 2020 Spring semester will fare. Will students return to university? Will real estate investors start investing again? Will the economy pick back up?

There are just so many questions that cannot be answered right now. But, we’re keeping our fingers crossed and are hoping for the best.

4 Tips on Writing a Scholarship Essay

Today, universities are increasingly making a scholarship essay mandatory in the list of documents for admission, and this should not be treated as a simple formality. Sometimes a cover paper can be a deciding factor in admission to an American college, as well as your business card and pass to happy student life.

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Why Do You Need Scholarship Essays?

A well-written scholarship essay is an easy way to present yourself and be remembered by the admissions committee. When several candidates with the same number of points apply for one place at once, they will choose the one who will best reveal their strengths in the papers. If your answer on the exam was not perfect, and small mistakes were made in the writing, a good cover letter can create a small miracle here as well. Logic, the ability to think structurally and present your ideas competently will help you overtake other applicants.

Even if the university you choose does not require you to provide a cover letter, the ability to write it will be useful to you in the future: no foreign internship, MBA program, or employment in an international company is complete without it.

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Requirements

If the cover letter is a mandatory item in the list of documents for admission, you can specify all the details on the university website or in the admissions office. You should not write a multi-page essay if the requirements include a small amount.

Each university has its own requirements for students’ texts. However, not every student can do written work. Not everyone is able to structure their thoughts correctly and format them in a written form. Cooperation with the best essay writing services is a good way to achieve a high-quality result for a reasonable price.

2. What to Write About?

You are recommended to make a mind map – a “cloud of words and concepts”, which will reflect your achievements, goals and interests. This cheat sheet will help you better understand what you want to tell the admissions committee and how to do it most clearly and colorfully. Then the lessons of the English language and literature in primary school will come to the rescue: they teach us to compose a clear structure of the essay. The plan will look something like this:

Introduction

Main Part

  • What do you want to get from this program, what profession to master?;
  • Your career goals and what will help you achieve them;
  • What skills do you need to master this profession? What you already know and what you would like to learn?;
  • How the chosen program will help you in implementing these plans?;
  • How can you be useful to the university, teachers and classmates?

Conclusion

When writing a letter, keep in mind that your goal is to interest the members of the admissions committee and show them your potential. Do not try to kill everyone with your wit, do not delve into childhood memories: the information that your grandmother was also a doctor, most likely, no one will be interested in. Write short, clear and to the point.

3. What to Include in the Cover Letter?

Write about what you have already achieved: tell about scientific work, the experience of volunteering, participation in conferences, victories at major Olympics, and about your overall success. Tell about your hobbies and interests, if they relate to the chosen program. At the same time it is necessary to avoid any banalities: “since the childhood I love animals” or “I am fond of watching documentaries” – the information is superfluous.

If you have experience in the relevant field, be sure to indicate it. Describe as specifically as possible how you imagine your professional future, what you would like to achieve, where to work, what benefits to society, and science. Remember that everything you write must directly or indirectly answer the following questions:

  1. Why you are interested in this field of study;
  2. Why the selection committee should choose you;
  3. What you know about the chosen program and about the profession you want to acquire.

4. What Not to Do?

Exaggerate Your achievements

You should not attribute someone else’s merits, overestimate, and list non-existent successes: in the digital age, it is easy to check whether you are telling the truth or exaggerating.

Be Interested in Artistic Techniques

Try to write a cover letter in simple language, without overloading the text with metaphors and stylistic turns. Get rid of clichés and boring, meaningless phrases.

Copy Other People’s Cover Letters

A mistake that killed more than one candidate. It is very important to write a cover letter from yourself and in your own words, otherwise, it will turn into a rather meaningless formality. Do not copy letters from friends and relatives, even if you think they are perfect.

8 Best Ways for Your College to Go Green

Today a lot of colleges have made an environmental revolution. No more coffee to go, no more plastic bottles to buy on a territory of the campus, the implementation of eco-friendly projects and campaigns – all this now is becoming a sustainable lifestyle for the majority of students.

The effects of climate change are dramatically terrifying. In most colleges, the initiative of the activities to make planet safer comes from administration faculties. However, any little action of every student as well as essay writer will help to protect our Earth. Let’s see now how green we may be in a range of college life.

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Today you even may look for the university that has its degrees in eco subjects: such as sustainable agriculture, natural resources conservation and indoor gardening and so on.

1. Energy supply

Whether it is a constructing of building with more efficient environmentally substantial windows and panels that use solar, wind or even water power, during past several years the colleges become a way eco-friendlier. Some programs promote the conservation in any aspect and the composting bins.

2. Using electronics instead of paper

The world now is digitally focused, and this is good news for a planet. A lot of colleges are equipped with computer classes, electronic libraries, and online testing programs. You may also have with taking notes electronically in order not to waste paper and money on buying notebooks. Instead of buying a book, prefer to borrow it or get only if necessary.

To see and read more more living a sustainable and healthy life, check out the Public Goods Blog by clicking here.

3. Opening a refectory with a local eco food

Organic food and organic gardening is a modern, healthy part of a sustainable lifestyle. The most colleges now have the individual spaces for organic gardening where any student can work to show their faith-based actions. They can grow plants, vegetables or fruits that are used in the kitchen of the campus for preparing healthy food.

The administration of some universities now got rid of trays – they state it will prevent students from over-eating and wasting food. Instead, a student takes a plate where he can put only as much as he can eat.

4. Having a place for refilling a water bottle

As you know, only 20% of plastic bottles will be recycled. The question is that where did other 80% proceed to? The management of some colleges take concrete measures to fight this issue: they don’t sell plastic bottles on the territory of campus. As an alternative, they give reusable water bottles and provide with stations of water filling. Isn’t it an amazingly simple and useful to evolve an initiative to become environmentally conscious?

5. Special campaigns for students

It is important for colleges to have some green project ideas for college students that may evolve students to concrete actions toward the protection of an ecology. It can be something like tree planting, street cleaning or any other environment-themed campaigns.

Organic food is a modern, healthy part of a sustainable lifestyle.

Organic food is a modern, healthy part of a sustainable lifestyle.

The effective way to make the more environmentally sustainable community is creating a communication between students and management. Every student may have his fresh ideas of go green, and it ‘d be good and if the management could encourage them and help to realize.

6. Transportation

What doesn’t student dream of having his car? But don’t lie to yourself – it is not a secret that the cars are the biggest reason of pollution in the air. Just think about it – do you need a car? Taking a public transport or having a bicycle will not only save a planet but also will save your money.

Many colleges offer carpool boards which allow pairing riders with drivers and a shuttle bus which run on biodiesel that is much safer for the planet than any other fuel.

7. Good old recycling

Almost every college has recycling bins and trash cans on its territory. The faculty and staff should be responsible for what and where they throw away – it will be a good example for every student.

8. Creating eco-friendly rules in a campus

  • Turn off everything
  • Using LED light bulbs
  • Reduce, reuse, recycle
  • Water-usage control (only a 5-minute shower)
  • Buy recyclable and eco products, e.g. you can even find eco friendly wooden watches these days.
  • Use power bars
  • Wash cups and plates, don’t use disposable paper or plastic utensils
  • Walk, bike and use public transport instead of a car

If you at a moment of decision which higher educational institution to choose – go ahead to pick a “go green” university which has at least some of point mentioned above!

Don’t close your eyes to truth – the climate change, the nuclear waste, etc.

With all these actions, even the little ones, we may protect the environment together and live a sustainable life!

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Wish you a good green luck!