Over the last several years, there has been an average 13% rent increase in San Marcos with each year increasing 2 to 3% more, according to Eric Algoe, vice president for operations and chief financial officer at Texas State.
Algoe said Texas State aims to provide more housing options for students due to the increase in rent in San Marcos.
“The cost of living on campus is just so much more affordable than living in town,” Algoe said. “We’re not doing that because we just want more housing, we’re doing that because we want more students to be able to get a Texas State education.”
Madison Rodriguez, English sophomore, who is in her second year at The Lodge Apartments said she experienced a significant increase in her apartment base rent. In her first year, she paid $599 a month, now she pays almost $200 more than that.
“My apartment is supposed to be the cheapest apartment in San Marcos,” Rodriguez said. “Now, my base is going to be around $640, and with all utilities making it around $800 a month.”
The Attorney for Students office offers legal services and advice for students navigating off-campus housing options, and encourages students to have their attorneys help go over contracts with them.
Ethan Chou, Texas State attorney for students, said leasing contracts for off-campus housing are usually complicated and long. Most student housing apartments offer rent-by-the-room leases, where tenants rent individual bedrooms and share common areas, ensuring they’re only responsible for their own rent.
“Individual leases look less expensive on paper,” Chou said. “Let’s say it’s $800 a month for every tenant, that’s the price per bedroom, not the whole unit so the landlord is now making more money.”
According to Chou, Texas doesn’t require landlords to let residents renew or cap prices for rent.
“There’s no price caps on what they can increase [rent] to, it’s just the market rate,” Chou said. “But students can still choose to go somewhere else if they want to, which is not necessarily ideal, but, at least they have the choice.”
Chou said before students sign a lease they must do extensive research on the apartments they are considering, including in-person tours and keeping up with the complex’s online websites and social media.
Chou said students shouldn’t feel rushed to sign a contract before the spring semester. He said the landlord’s statements aren’t always accurate when they say prices will increase in the spring.
“Last [fall] I think a lot of individuals and families got a little bit worried about the housing situation here in San Marcos and wondered if they needed to sign leases then,” Chou said. “Anecdotally, a lot of people signed in October and November, and it was fairly pricey. In late spring, early summer, a lot of complexes realized they still had open units and prices came down.”
Chou said if students find different or additional charges on their leases, they should always try to talk to the manager first, but additional fees might not be negotiable.
“Mistakes or discrepancies between what someone at the office has told you and the contract can get straightened out before you sign it,” Chou said. “Other fees, you may have to take a look at and see if you’re really not appreciative of the sort of the charges that come out of there.”
Nalani Pennick, healthcare administration junior, said she was worried after finding out she would have to look for an off-campus apartment at the end of her freshman year.
“I emailed around and basically got the runaround from the university,” Pennick said. “I just wanted to know what I should do if I couldn’t afford it, but wasn’t really given any help.”
Aside from AFS, Texas State also offers guides for students in search of off-campus housing options through the housing and residential life website for both campuses.
Pennick, who had been living at the Arba San Marcos Apartments for 10 months when the complex underwent management changes, said her rent increased from $600 to over $700 per month, with the only notice of the increase being an email.
“When deciding whether I wanted to stay or not, they pressed us to sign immediately or face a rent increase of $100,” Pennick said.
Chou advises to not assume that a lease renewal hasn’t changed and for students to review it carefully on their own or with AFS because these contracts determine what controls students’ relationship with the landlord.
“Your landlord may not tell you everything up front, or they may not know all of the information up front,” Chou said. “If there has been a price change, or other fees or charges added on, you want to be aware of that, and not just the rent, but even add-ons to the lease that aren’t always necessarily clear because the language of the contract is difficult to read.”
