Private off-campus Housing

Read your lease before you sign it! Make sure you have a copy of your lease handy in the house if issues arise while you are living there.  Residence Life requires you to turn in a copy of your lease during the spring before your senior year.  Some points you may want to take note of on your lease:

• Timeline of occupancy
• Your responsibility when it comes to repairs, yard maintenance, or social event parameters.
• Any costs that might be passed along to you.
• Terms of the return of your security deposit.
• Sub-letting terms.
• Heat and/or air conditioning temperature settings.

You are strongly encouraged to thoroughly inspect the condition and report problem areas to your landlord. Most likely, you have paid a security deposit that you want to get back at the end of your lease. Don’t get stuck paying for damages that you did not cause.

Congratulations you are now, more so than ever, a community member in the City of Easton.  You should be familiar with the City of Easton Codes and how they are enforced.  Some highlights include:

• All dwellings should have smoke detectors.
• Disorderly conduct/noise from tenants at any time of the day may warrant a ticket from the City of Easton.
• As a College Hill resident, you are required to have an residential parking permit from the City to park on signed city streets between 2am and 6am.  This process starts with registering for parking through Public Safety.
• Snow removal should be done from sidewalks adjacent to homes within 8 hours of a snow fall.
• Per the City of Easton ordinance, no furniture intended for inside use is permitted outside
• Garbage and recycling should be kept neatly in cans before it is put on the curb to be picked up by the City.  Trash is collected every Monday on College Hill.  Garbage should be placed on the curb Sunday night after 6 p.m.  If the garbage is not placed on the curb, it WILL NOT be collected. If garbage is improperly disposed of, the City could write a citation.Be sure to review the City of Easton Trash and Recycling Schedule.
• Easton city ordinance limits occupants in a living unit to 3 unrelated persons. The College does not support and will not approve intentional and/or prohibited overcrowding of addresses.

Although private off-campus housing is intended to give you more independence, you are still a Lafayette College student and part of the College community. Your behavior, positive and negative, will be noticed by community members you live among and will help to shape their opinions of all Lafayette students. Ultimately, you are a Lafayette College student no matter where you live and that means the College expects you to be “honorable, ethical, and mature in every regard” as stated in the Student Code of Conduct

While we encourage concerns to be resolved directly between neighbors, members of the community may also call the Residence Life office or other college administrator with concerns or, for more immediate issues, call the Easton Police department. You should expect follow up from our office should a neighbor or community member express concern about your behavior and/or if the police respond to your property.

Students living in Private Off-Campus housing continue to have a meal plan. The minimum number of weekly meals is 5 based on having a private kitchen in the unit.

Meal plan requirements and prices are posted on the Finance and Administration webpage.

Because students in Private Off Campus housing do not pay a housing fee to the college, they do not have access to the Soles Basement laundry room and are not permitted to use residential laundry facilities (including chapter house facilities). These coinless machines are supported from the housing fees paid by residential students.

If laundry machines are not available in the off campus unit you lease, a local laundromat is available – U-Laundrit at 514 W Monroe St., across from the Lafayette Inn.

Living off-campus means you now also a member of the College Hill community. Engage in the community by introducing yourself to neighbors, attending community events or attend a meeting of the College Hill Neighborhood Association.

Although off-campus housing is intended to give you more independence, you are still a part of the College community and should stay updated on campus happenings as well.

Refer to this off-campus living guide (pdf) for additional information about living off-campus.