Northwestern will switch its off-campus housing vendor to a new platform run by Off Campus Partners, which is expected to launch in March.
The website will offer a cleaner digital appearance and new features to better support international students, said Assistant Dean and Director of Strategy and Operations in the Dean of Students office Jason McKean, who also directs NU’s Off-Campus Life office.
McKean said the baseline services — including a property search tool and a roommate finder that connects students for sublets — will remain the same. However, he said aesthetics and accessibility were major factors in the University’s decision to move from Places4Students, its former vendor.
“It wasn’t the most beautiful thing out there,” McKean said. “Some of their competitors had much cleaner layouts that felt a little bit easier to navigate, so that was part of it.”
He added that the new Off Campus Partners platform will resemble that of the University of Illinois Chicago.
Another major factor in the switch was the platform’s international student-friendly filter.
International students often lack documentation required by landlords, such as a Social Security number or U.S. credit history.
“International students may not have a social security number, right?” Nadirah Muhammad, a marketing manager at Off Campus Partners, said. “Those properties understand that and already have that within their process, which is really nice.”
The filter allows owners to indicate whether they accept alternative documentation instead of requiring a Social Security number, including financial aid as proof of income, flexible credit checks, flexibility with guarantors and alternative identification such as a passport or visa.
Medill sophomore Junseo Lee, an international student from South Korea, said he used Places4Students to find housing for next school year and has already signed a lease. He said the platform was helpful, but he sees the value in adding a feature tailored to international students.
“The biggest obstacle is when we have to involve our parents and we’re the ones signing the lease, but they’re the ones paying,” Lee said. “My parents do not speak English. They’re not here. They’re a 15-hour flight away. They’re not going to be able to help. They’re not going to be able to provide any kind of documentation, so there are obviously students who are going to struggle with that.”
McKean said the new website will also include a dedicated tab linking students to OCL resources, which the previous platform did not allow. The added feature will connect students directly to University guidance about the housing process.
While many students use Zillow or similar rental platforms, McKean said NU’s vendor helps streamline listings by connecting students with owners open to renting to college students.
“Nobody in my office is a realtor,” McKean said. “What we want to do is make sure that students have a place where they can go (to look for off-campus housing) that is theirs.”
Lee said he believes the University has a responsibility to support students navigating the off-campus housing process.
“People forget that we’re not really adults yet,” Lee said. “We’ve never actually done this before. No one has taught us how to sign a lease, how to read through a contract properly and the legal lingo of this process. It’s great that Northwestern encourages us to live off campus, but that also means that they need to offer us support and help to be able to do so.”
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