Housing  

For all students who have come down recently or planning to come here, finding an apartment/house is one of the top priorities. We, here at IGSA, would like to make that search a bit easier for you. There is an important choice that students have to make as far as housing is concerned. They have to decide if they would like to live on-campus or off-campus. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages and we would like to point out those features that will help you decide the type of living that is most suited to your life style.

Deciding the housing is totally depends on your preferences. Most of the new incoming students go in for Off-campus housing as it comes out to be much cheaper. If you do want to take up On-campus housing, you should apply for it soon. These dorms get filled up fast.

The university is divided into 2 major campus; east and west campus which are both well connected by shuttle (it’s like a loop). The engineering facilities are in east campus where as medicine related stuff are in west campus.

The on campus facility provided to graduate students is only in the west campus and its kind of costly too. It’s like $550-600/month (for recent rate please check the UIC website), including all utilities, whereas off-campus housing, one can get in both east and west campus and it costs about $600 a month including most. Most of the students live in off-campus housing.

UIC has living facilities that are differentiated on basis of your student status. There are quarters for Under-grads and for senior under-grads/grads.

1. The under-grad living facilities are more of dorm types without attached kitchen and bathrooms. Hence these accommodations require meal plans and cost around 6000$ - 6500$. This means the student will have average of 7.77$ per day on his card for meals. The plans vary and more detailed information can be obtained from the Office of Student Residence.

2. The grad student residences are more of individual suite/apartment type and come with attached kitchen and bathroom. Thus there is no meal plan associated with these accommodations. The cost comes to around varies from 4300$(for 2-3 person apartments) to 4900$ (for larger 2 person apartments). Apart from this there will be extra cost for food which is comparable to what people pay outside the campus.

The type of accommodation to be chosen completely depends upon each individual. But in the long run, students who have opted to stay in-campus, will realize that they were spending more amount than the students who live off-campus in apartments or houses. In contrast they will be enjoying more independence and also will be staying close to college campus thus eliminating the need for transportation. Many Indian graduate students will agree that it is better to live around college taking apartments privately than living on-campus. It gives students flexibility and a sense of togetherness that most of us relish.

By saying off-campus housing we mean the apartments which are located in the vicinity of the both campuses and are either covered by UIC shuttle or are at a walkable distance to the university The off campus is cheaper, it cost you about $250-500 /month depending on your preferences (if you want a separate apartment or room for yourself, also on the kind of apartment you chose , whether you share a room or not..goes on and on). Also it gives you a flexibility to choose your own roommate/roommates. And the location which is nearer to your lab and departments.

A breakup of the costs involved in off-campus housing
1. Rent - $250 - $350/person
2. Utilities (heat, current, water..) - $100/person
3. Groceries - $150 - $200/household

So this will work out to be roughly 600$ a month. It varies widely between $500 to anywhere depending on your personal life style.

There are certain features that we would like to point out with respect to selection of type of accommodation.

The rents for houses varies from around $800-$1200 based on the location of the apartments/house and also on the number of bed-rooms in the house. Typically a single bedroom apartment in Medical District City Apartments costs around $1000(approximate.) and can accommodate 3 persons. A two bedroom apartment in Medical District City Apartments costs around $1600 and can be shared by 4 persons.

Choose houses/apartments that allow easy commutation to and from college. Houses that seem to be away from college campus may actually have very good transportation facilities like Red car and Campus Shuttle access).

And in case you are wondering what you need to have for a house.. this list should be a good starting point

  • Bed room.
    - Lights - $10-$15
    - Sleeping Bags - $25-$30
    - Pillow and pillow cover - $10
    - Bed sheets (if you haven't brought them).
    - Hangers (if you haven't brought any -- you get 10 for $1 deals).
  • Living Room
    - Lights - $10 - $15
    - Chairs - As you can afford.
    - TV + VCR (if you need them).
    - Vacuum Cleaner and bags - needed if the room is carpeted.
    - Carpet freshener powder during vacuuming.
    - Air freshener
    - Any decorative items (if you need them)
    - Futon/Sofa (if you need them)
    - Mats/Rugs -- especially at the doors
    - Shoe rack -- (definitely helpful if you can afford)
  • Kitchen
    - Toaster - $10 and above
    - Blender - $20 and above
    - Coffee Maker - $15 and above
    - Paper Towels
    - Kitchen Towels
    - Dish washing liquid + scrubber for cleaning vessels
    - Stand for draining vessels
    - Rice cooker -- if you want
    - kitchen floor rugs
  • Restroom
    - Shower curtain
    - Toilet cleaning supplies
    - Bathroom cleaning supplies
    - Bathroom mats
    - Bathroom tissues (get used to this....!)
    - Mop



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