McCormick sophomore Kennedi Wilson looked at 25 apartments with her friends at the end of her freshman year before giving up on her hopes to live off-campus for her junior year. 

Although initially set on living off-campus with her friends, Wilson said she was unable to find an apartment that had what she needed within her price range. She initially thought living on campus would be more expensive, but quickly discovered there were hidden costs to living off-campus. 

The cost of living in Evanston is 29% more than the national average, according to the Economic Research Institute. It is also ranked as the 11th most expensive city in Illinois for household bills.

Wilson said the places she looked at averaged around $1,100 per person before utilities in places for three or more renters, which exceeded her budget of $1,000 per person including utilities.

“It became looking for a place with two people, and that was kind of the thing of: ‘Yeah, we’re gonna start aiming for on-campus,’” Wilson said. “Because anything off-campus, if you don’t have three people or more, it’s just going to be super expensive.”

Wilson, who is a QuestBridge scholar, said her financial aid changed more than she expected it to for the 2025-26 academic year. She said although she was aware of a potential financial aid refund provided by NU for off-campus housing, it wasn’t something she felt comfortable relying on in advance. 

Wilson’s future roommate, McCormick sophomore Emma Johnson, expressed similar financial concerns. 

“I personally don’t feel comfortable hoping that our school does give me the money,”Johnson said. “So I don’t really want to bet on getting money that I’m supposed to have from Northwestern.” 

Johnson, whose tuition is fully covered by the GI Bill and NU, said she has experienced issues with the financial aid office in the past. 

One such struggle for Johnson is that the money she receives from the government is given to her in monthly installments, but her housing payment to the University is due all at once. 

So, she said she ends up paying her housing bill out of pocket and has to wait to be reimbursed. Johnson explained she would also be concerned about receiving payments on time to cover-off campus housing.

“I guess with living on-campus, I’m only dealing with one person, and it’s the school,” said Johnson. “Going off campus, with the financial aid giving you money process, I’m then dealing with the school and a landlord and probably several roommates that I don’t want to let down.”

The unexpected costs such as laundry, furnishing an apartment and emergency expenses are what worry Johnson the most. 

Although these costs can be overwhelming for lower income families, some students on financial aid are eligible to receive a financial aid refund from NU to cover outside costs.  

Bienen and SESP junior Rogelio Munoz-Franco, who receives a refund from NU, started living off-campus this fall in a five-bedroom apartment with four other roommates. He said living off-campus made the most sense for him both based on his preferences and financial situation. 

Munoz-Franco, who receives full financial aid, said he gets a stipend from NU of about $7,000 a quarter to cover his housing and food expenses. 

Even with the stipend, Munoz-Franco said he sometimes struggles to make ends meet because he has to cover all of his expenses on his own, which can lead to other stresses. 

“I feel like I can’t really go all out with food all the time, or I go hungry for a large part of the day because I don’t want to eat out (or) waste money, and I want to cook for myself and use the groceries that I’ve bought,” Munoz-Franco said. 

He said one of the biggest struggles of living on his own for the first time has been dealing with unexpected expenses and living with roommates of various economic status. 

He has noticed differences in the ways that his roommates with parents who pay for their rent and food treat common spaces and share food, Munoz-Franco said. 

“A lot of them will not clean up after themselves because they’ve had people to clean up after them for their entire lives. Or they’re a lot more willing to waste food and throw away food,” Munoz-Franco said. “That kind of food wasting doesn’t really happen with people who know what it’s like to not have a lot of food to go around.” 

Munoz-Franco advised low-income students hoping to live off-campus to find upperclassmen looking to pass their place down to underclassmen and to not be afraid to tell their landlord when something is wrong with their place. 

In his experience, Munoz-Franco said the cheapest places to rent in Evanston range between $800 to $1,000 a month depending on location and the number of roommates. He said if students that receive the off-campus stipend from NU are able to stay within that price range, they will have some money left over for other expenses. 

Johnson said when looking for roommates, she sought out students also on financial aid because she felt they would be more understanding during the housing search. 

She is now hoping to live in Kemper Hall for her junior year, a dorm that has a kitchen which would allow her to cook for herself and downgrade to a smaller meal plan. 

“Even if you’re just paying for rent and utilities, you’re almost always going to have to pay more because something is going to go wrong, or you have to still furnish a whole apartment,” said Johnson. “Even if on paper, it looks like (living off campus) is cheaper, I don’t think it would turn out to be and that’s why I’m just avoiding it, because it seems like such a stressful process.” 

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