Wow this thread's really active this year. Congratulations on all the interviews and acceptances!
👍👍
I'm in my second year in the graduate housing. I chose it the first year to not deal with the hassle of looking for housing from 1,000 miles away. I stayed this year because otherwise I'd have needed to buy a car already, and I'm putting that off until the end of this year.
Pros - very close to campus, shuttles take you right to the HPD building or the gym, fully furnished including kitchen and bathroom, all bills included, rent is automatically taken out before you get any refund money so you don't have to think about it, fairly large rooms (at least the singles - I've heard the quads are actually pretty small, but I've never been in one of those rooms), great pool
😎
Cons - shared laundry (probably an issue with most apartment complexes), still a dorm (some noise but not nearly as much as undergrad dorms), no pets
The two biggest cons are probably cost and parking. It's definitely expensive. If you compare it to a single in one of the apartment complexes right next to campus and add on their utilities, it's actually not too far off, but if you're trying to save money, the dorm's probably not the way to go. (If you're really trying to save money, find a roommate(s) and go farther away from campus). Also, if you live in the dorms you're not allowed to park on campus during main hours because they want you to take the shuttles. Most students who still want to drive to class get around this easily by parking in the non-campus parking lot near HPD.
Last thing, if you decide to live in the dorm, apply whenever they open the application up. It did fill up this year (not right away, but there were definitely people who were told it was full).
http://www.nova.edu/reslife/rollinghills/index.html?albumid=album-168
(Building A and Building C have different prices)