For students wondering if it’s possible to pay less rent, the answer will surprise you. Considering that rent is the single biggest expenditure for students, it’s all about finding clever ways to reduce it.

So that’s why we’re here to talk about the things students can do to reduce renting costs. With all that out of the way, let’s begin.

Negotiate

What better way to try and cut renting costs than to engage in a conversation with your landlord? In truth, this is the person that holds all the cards. They are in full control and you have to pay what they ask if you want to live there.

Considering that most students rent apartments for the duration of the school year, a productive conversation can be to ask them to lower the monthly cost by paying in advance for the full year.

This gives the landlord incentive to help you out. If, however, you can’t do that, then it won’t hurt to ask respectively if they could lower the price.

This is where your skills as a negotiator come out. You will need to point out how good of a tenant you’ve been and explain that good tenants are hard to come by.

Look For A Roommate

The current housing market is very expensive. Rent is directly impacted by this, with renting a single bedroom costing as much as $600.

This makes it especially hard for off-campus students to pay their rent, according to this report. This is why students are finding roommates to share the costs of rent.

Plenty of platforms can help you find a roommate. From Craigslist to very student-specific platforms such as Roomi and Roommates.com, there are enough ways to do that.

But it’s important to indeed find a roommate before you renew your current lease. Your landlord might not approve of another person using the accommodation, so you’ll need to look for properties that do indeed allow it.

That way, both you and your new roommate will have a place to stay and pay much less on rent.

Find Ways To Help the Landlord

If your landlord isn’t interested in lowering the rent price, then maybe you can do something about it. Plenty of landlords don’t like lowering the price of rent just like that, but they might be willing to offer you a discount if you do some work around the property.

To determine what type of work the landlord might be looking for, you will need to talk to them. If you’re renting a house, then they might be interested in seasonal work such as cleaning the yard from leaves, cleaning the gutter, shoveling snow, and more.

If you’re living in an apartment, handiwork is what you can do. Offer to clean the elevator every month, repaint some of the walls, etc. By doing this, your landlord will be more than happy to offer some form of renting discount.

Look For A New Apartment

Properties closer to campus are more expensive. According to this report from Bloomberg, low-income students are settling further away from campus.

When that’s the case, your only option is to follow what most students do. Looking for a new apartment might just be the thing you need to pay less on rent.

The more prices go up, the more students will relocate. You can find much more affordable apartments if you settle a few blocks further away from campus.

Sure, it might make it harder to commute and longer, but you’ll budget will ultimately profit from doing it.

You may be able to downsize your apartment as well to save money. Moving into a small space may be challenging but you can always look for a storage room for college students in San Francisco to help store your bulky items. These types of leases storage unit rentals offer very reasonable prices and will likely be less expensive combined with a smaller apartment than your current larger apartment. This will help with moving too as you will be able to use this storage space during the summer months when you aren’t on living near campus.

Rent Unfinished Properties

No doubt furnishing can cost a small fortune. And it might work counterproductive to rent unfinished and unfurnished properties. But if you really think about it, you can find some very cheap furniture for almost nothing!

There are tons of ways to do this. You can browse online and look for people that give away old furniture for free. You can even buy it at a very low cost by visiting a local yard sale.

Regardless, unfinished and unfurnished properties are always cheaper.

Look For A Job

If all else fails, what you can always do is look for a job. Students have tons of options when it comes to job opportunities. They can work part-time, or they can work full-time.

The latter might be more difficult for some, so a viable option is to turn towards the gig economy. Freelancing has never been more popular than now.

With 59 million Americans engaging in freelance work, you could try your luck there in hopes to help pay rent. Not only that, but freelancing can help pay your way through college and help you survive your first year.

And the best part about it? You can work how much you like. Platforms like Upwork and Freelancer are leading names in the freelancing revolution. If you have any digital skills, then chances are you can turn to freelance in a bid to try and cope with the huge renting frees.