Assisting students in the often daunting task of finding off-campus housing options, The University of Alabama launched a new off-campus housing website on Feb. 6, offcampushousing.ua.edu.

“Finding off-campus housing can be overwhelming for students and parents,” Julie Elmore, assistant director of off-campus and greek housing, said. “This site allows students more options than our original site”

Elmore said students can now search for off-campus housing using a basic search, but there are filters that can be used such as rent amount, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, pets, building type, lease length as well as an option to do an advanced search that allows users to narrow down the search on the site to specific amenities that are important to the student.

Although there was an off-campus housing website in the past, the University chose to pair with Off Campus Partners to create a new site.

The site is free to students, parents and members of the Tuscaloosa community, funded by the fees charged to the apartment complexes, real estate companies and individuals with rental property to list their properties on the site.

“I didn’t really know how to go about finding somewhere to live off-campus, and it’s hard to find time to search for options between classes and other commitments. Luckily, my friends really liked where they were living, and I just decided to live there too,” Grace Lang, a senior studying finance, said.

“Choosing the right place to live affects just about every area of your life for a year,” Lang said. “I think it’s great that the University is helping make an essential part of student life easier.”

Elmore said she thinks the new site will definitely benefit students and parents.

“We felt like the product they provide is an extremely useful resource for students, parents and the community to assist in the search for off-campus housing,” Elmore said.

Message boards provide a forum for students to buy or sell furniture and arrange ride-sharing opportunities.

The website also provides resources to help students read and understand their leases before signing, as well as general safety tips and budgeting worksheets.

“By registering with the site, students can create an account and save their searches to a favorites list,” Elmore said. “There is a tab for students looking for a roommate or to sublease that is only viewable by members of the UA community in order to protect our students’ information. Parents can also create a guest account in order to search the site for housing options.”

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