CURRENT ISSUE | SUBSCRIBE | ADVERTISE | WRITE TO US | CORNELL AUTHORS | PAST ISSUES

By Sharon Tregaskis Photographs by Robert Barker From designer décor to fire-trap funk, when it comes to housing, today's students have it all.
Home, sweet home (left to right): Super-senior Nate Abbott lives on Cayuga Lake; Joydeep Chatterjee '06 hangs his hat in Alice Cook House; Whitney Schwab '05 shares a Linden Ave. house; freshmen Nick Flanders and Becky Wolozin reside in Mews Hall; and senior Leti McNeill rooms in a sixmember co-op on University Ave.

Early each fall, Cornellians add one more task to their daily planners: find a place to live for the next school year. While University administrators encourage students to wait until spring to sign off-campus leases so they have more time to consider their options, students aren't convinced. "You can't find good places if you start after September," says a senior who landed a four-bedroom rental in Collegetown. The pronouncement may not be quite accurate, but it reflects a pervasive sentiment: when you're an undergrad, where you live reflects more than your housing budget or which quad you have to walk to each morning. It's all about image.Whether you prefer a University-owned dorm or take your chances with the local slumlords, the quest for the perfect pad is a quintessential part of the undergraduate experience.

Collegetown Bachelor Pad

Since he started his undergraduate career, Whitney Schwab has lived in dorms at Cornell and Oxford, and in an apartment at the top of Gun Hill. This year, he calls 127 Linden St. home. For $575/month he gets a basement room in a house with three bathrooms, three kitchens, a great porch, and fourteen Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers. The guys don't do much cooking--most are on the fraternity's meal plan--and Schwab usually eats out. And with its industrial-grade carpeting and spare furnishings, the alumninum-siding-clad house isn't much to look at. But that's not the point, says the philosophy major. "It's closer to what's going on. When you're a senior, you're supposed to live in Collegetown."

As a junior studying in England, Whitney Schwab deputized a buddy to find housing for their senior year. The resultant basement room Schwab occupies has some moisture problems, so he bought a dehumidifier ("Leave it on and it's like a heater," he says. "Off and it's like a jungle."). For a while some of the guys had trouble paying their rent on time, so they figure they won't see their security deposits again. But a bigger disappointment has been the dearth of beer blasts. Recent changes in local laws authorized Ithaca Police to serve as complainants in noise violations and New York State has stiffened penalties on underage drinking. "No one gets kegs anymore," Schwab says.

Going for the Green

Twenty-four-year-old Leti McNeill lived in Dickson Hall and at Kappa Kappa Gamma before she took a break from Cornell. Now she's back, studying international and public affairs and rooming in a co-ed, off-campus co-op. "I could have rented a room in a house, but I wanted to live with people," says the New Jersey native of her search for a low-cost lifestyle. Monthly bills, including rent, average about $500 each for the six members, who share vegetarian meals, household expenses, and weekly chores. Between avid composting and commitment to buying local, organic foods, McNeill calls the ethos "crunchy."

A Matched Pair

Ithaca native Nick Flanders and roommate Jason Burger from Paramus, New Jersey, have two things in common-- they're night owls and they can tolerate a bit of a mess. "The best part about Mews is that we have air-conditioning," says the freshman, of the North Campus double he calls "surprisingly neat." "In the rare times it's hot, we stay cool. The other great thing is there's only five people per bathroom." Over the summer, the pair negotiated what each would bring to campus. "He brought the fridge, I brought the fan and the hot water pot." In the interior decorating department, they let the walls reflect their differences. Flanders hung a Rocky poster and a "Simpson's" T-shirt while Burger sleeps with Jimi Hendrix above his bed.

Survey says: "On the housing application there really weren't any personal questions," says Nick Flanders of the freshman rooming lottery. Two check-boxes ask incoming students to note whether they stay up late or rise early and how tidy they are. The University pairs those who respond similarly. Sometimes the desire to turn over a new leaf can create complications: Becky Wolozin checked the "neat" box because, she confesses, "that was my goal."

Moving on Up

Freshman Becky Wolozin pays about $600/month for the double room in Mews Hall she shares with an architecture student. "I clean my side every day, but compared to her I'm still really, really messy," says the Massachusetts native. "She says as long as I know I have a problem, it's OK." By mid-October, Wolozin hopes to have signed a lease in Collegetown for next year. "It's a great location," says the prospective English major of her intended residence. She and seven friends will each pay $450/month for a Linden Ave. house with free parking, laundry, and "a great yard with a huge porch."Wolozin says she got an early start for good reason. "The sooner you go, the more likely you are to get a better deal than the dorms. Later in the season, it'll probably be equal."

Go West, Young Man

As a freshman, Joydeep Chatterjee roomed in Clara Dickson Hall on North Campus. Last year the South Jersey native lived in Class of '22, and now he calls the West Campus Alice Cook House home. "This is definitely an improvement," says Chatterjee of his third-floor single and shared sitting room. Residents have complained about the baffling building layout, excessive security, and limited dining options, but the civil engineering major says there's a bright side. "Alice Cook House shines in its ability to adapt to the needs of residents," he says. "It's exciting to be part of this experiment."

On the Waterfront

Nate Abbott, a fifth-year senior from Geneva, New York, spent a year in a fraternity house and another in its Collegetown annex, but he wanted a change. "You can only do that thing for so long before you go insane," he says of his group living days. "I wanted to shower without having to wear sandals." Abbott found the answer in a one-bedroom house on the east shore of Cayuga Lake. The place boasts spectacular sunsets and a dock where he hosts cookouts and moonlit swims. "It's tucked away so neatly," he says, "I feel like I live in secluded woods."

Price is right: "Everything about this place just slid itself into position," says Abbott, who pays $540/month plus utilities. His second-hand living room set cost $50, less than the price of a rental truck to deliver the retro rocker, love seat, and bench.

Return to top of page