Global Village, a sustainable residential community that cost RIT $54.5 million to build, provides a variety of amenities but comes at a high price.  Global Village offers student housing, dining facilities, food markets, a fitness center, a hair salon, and a print and postal center.

The apartments each have 5 furnished bedrooms: 4 singles and 1 double.  The apartments, which are only available to 2^nd year RIT students and older, cost at least $760 per month (for a double without a kitchen) and at most $892 per month (for a single with a kitchen).   The rent is included in each student’s quarterly RIT bill so there is no separate bill for rent, cable, etc.  Some of the apartments do not have kitchens but there is one communal kitchen on the first floor of each building.  For the apartments that do have a kitchen, it is only 11 x 11 feet and there is no garbage disposal or dishwasher.

One student who lived in Global Village said he really liked that is was close to dining facilities and that laundry was in the building.  He did not like “how small the rooms were, especially the double.”  He also complained about how “the bathrooms drained terribly, the fridge was too small, the couches were super uncomfortable…  It was really expensive for how small the apartment was and for how few washers and dryers there were in the entire building.”

Some commonalities between Global Village and RocRooms are that each apartment is furnished and includes utilities.  However, RocRooms comes at a much more affordable price and offers great service.  Both Global Village and RocRooms feature individual leases so that you are not responsible for the rent of your roommates.  Each RocRoom apartment comes with an oven, refrigerator, microwave, laundry, wireless Internet, and cable.

RocRooms properties have private yards that are maintained with complementary snow removal and lawn maintenance.  In addition, RocRooms includes a monthly cleaning service to tidy up the common areas.  Most of our properties include free and easy parking; when available, residents have the option of garage parking at $20 per month.  Our apartments also come with basic kitchen utensils and supplies for your convenience.

Rent is a very important aspect of student living that RocRooms pays special attention to.  We have competitive pricing and understand how expensive housing can be for college students on a tight budget.  We do the best we can to save you money.  Bills are also streamlined into one easy online monthly payment.

The average cost for a RocRoom will be $550 per month this year.  The amount of total housing space in each unit ranges from 1,200 sq ft to 2,200 sq ft.  Some RocRooms for this year will have all-inclusive options as low as $425 per month.  Global Village costs close to $900 per month and has much less space.   A single Global Village bedroom is only 12 x 18 feet and the living room is 11 x 12.  Also, Global Village requires that you live with 5 other students.   One student felt “six is too many for one fridge and two bathrooms.”  Roc Rooms has apartments with 3 to 5 bedrooms and plenty of space between them.

While Global Village is right on campus, which may appeal to RIT students (especially for those without a car), RocRooms offers relatively close housing options for a much more affordable price with comparable amenities.  Even though Global Village has a lot of extra features such as dining facilities and a salon, the businesses are open to the public.  RocRooms provides you with comparable amenities such as: lower rent, your own space, and a level of independence that living in close quarters with hundreds of other RIT students cannot provide.

-Haley