The rising prices of rentals in Manhattan are placing financial pressure on K-State students, making some feel unclear about their future living situation while taking classes in Manhattan.
According to data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, rental prices over the past three years have increased by over 20% in Manhattan, making the average cost-of-living around $1,200 a month for most one, two and three bedroom houses or apartments.
Freshman in business, Austin McPheeters is looking for a rental for next year and is struggling to find one within his price range.
“I was looking for an apartment for like $600 a month for me and my roommate,” McPheeters said. “But the best deal I’ve found was this tiny three bedroom for like $900, which is crazy.”
Students say rent increases are not only affecting their housing choices but also their day-to-day lives. Cutting back on groceries and food, while some rely on their parents or guardians to help pay for living. Some students rely heavily on student loans to make it easier to pay for housing.
“Luckily my grandparents pay my education fund, so the money I make for work goes straight to my apartment rent,” said junior in marketing Evan Schneider, who lives off campus. “It has affected my ability to spend money on other things and I have had to cut back on some certain things like my hobbies or eating out.”
The issue isn’t just the price of rentals, it’s also the time it takes to afford college and housing as a student. According to Redfin by Rocket Mortgage , the average income required for students to afford a 2-bedroom rental is $18.25 per hour, while the average income for full time students is $14.67 per hour.
This causes students to work multiple jobs and have less time on their hands for schoolwork or their interests.
“Since my rent has increased by $150 per month, it’s made it difficult to hone in on school,” said senior Carter Struckle, who lives in a house off campus. “If this wasn’t my last semester, I wouldn’t know what to do next school year.”
Students searching for housing say the hardest thing about the housing market is the competition for a good rental. Listings are filled quickly, leases increase year to year and desirable locations near campus are becoming harder to secure.
“The difficult part of finding an apartment is finding the good value ones,” McPheeters said. “The expensive ones are always near campus. … Yeah you can find a cheap apartment five miles from campus that also looks like it was built during World War 2.”
Since nearly 61% of all rentals in Manhattan are occupied by full-time students, the city has shown more interest in building closer to campus. This has led to prices increasing and availability to rentals near campus becoming competitive.
“I think [Manhattan] is just putting more apartments up instead of dealing with the cost,” Struckle said. “It’s pretty expensive to even find a place near the school in the first place, but they’re just building even more and charging the same price.”
Many students believe that the university can play a bigger role in the rental prices by offering better living situations and costs.
“K-State should build more scholarships or something like that to help students who can’t find a place to live,” Schneider said. “Heck, they could just lower the cost to live in the dorms, then rental companies might lower their prices as well.”
