Due to an unofficial UVA tradition, students feel pressured to start signing leases for off-grounds housing on October 1st or any date close to that. Ask anybody on the Housing Staff, however, and you will get advice much different than this. They will tell you to not consider signing a lease until early 2011 or at the very least until December. While it is true that the most competitive apartments along JPA may go soon, there are plenty of apartments that will still be available in January. Perhaps the most important consideration when looking for housing for next year is roommates. Finding four people that will tolerate each other is hard enough; it is even harder to find four people that will still tolerate each other after a full year in close quarters.
Another consideration is on-grounds or off-grounds housing. While it is true that an apartment will give more freedom, that comes at the price of more responsibility. I am sure many UVA students could tell horror stories about their greedy landlords. On-grounds housing does offer apartment style housing, which is also at a significantly lower price than most apartments. Though there would be an RA, I truly doubt that a lot of freedom will be lost at all. At this point my best advice would be to really not worry too much about housing, but do apply for on-grounds in December.
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