While we are unable to make recommendations regarding any housing accommodations other than our own, we did want to provide a few tips and tricks to help you make the best decision for your next living environment before you sign a lease for the upcoming year. Here are some questions you’ll want to consider before you decide to sign a lease.
Placement for student teaching and internships can vary depending on availability of experienced teachers. Location should inhibit your ability to get a great education from a teacher/employer that is doing amazing things. Make sure to keep your options open to placement in other areas of the state.
UNK’s Answer: Our contract specifies that students that are student teaching, interning, or studying abroad with UNK can cancel their contract without penalty. Why? Because we value your education and we want to make sure you get the best experience possible as a UNK student. If you get a student teacher or internship placement in another part of the state, we will not apply any cancellation fees to your account. We simply ask that you send us an email so we can make sure to cancel your contract.
Some scholarships or waivers indicate that you can only receive that particular scholarship/ waiver by living on campus. Make sure to consult with financial aid to make sure you know how much money you have in aid to assist with the off-campus housing costs.
You’ll want to ask how much you should expect to pay per month for basic needs such as rent, electric, gas, wifi, trash, recycling, parking and water. Some people are caught off-guard that not everything is included in many rental packages.
UNK’s Answer: For a suite style room in Antelope Nester, the cost for a suite is proposed at $3559 per semester for 24-25 academic year. The Board of Regents will approve the board amount later in 2023 so we can't give you an exact dollar amount yet. If you decide to do a 365 contract, that will add $50 to your bill for Summer housing.
UNK Antelope Nester Suite: $597.33 month for 12 months includes rent, electric, gas, wifi, trash, water & recycling. Parking and student fees are not included.
Some leases are 12 month while others are six months. If you are needing to leave Kearney for the summer months, you’ll want to ask if you are able to sublet your apartment. Some places will not be able to accommodate that request. You will also want to make sure to ask what the penalty is to break the lease in case you are needing to leave Kearney due to unexpected circumstances.
UNK’s Answer: We have different contract options available. Our Village Flats apartment requires a 60 day notice to vacate the apartment without penalty. There are two options for the residence hall contract. The 365 contract is a 12 month contract spanning from May to May and the Academic Year contract includes Fall, J Term, and Spring Term housing. Cancellation fees are scheduled as follows:
On or before May 31 prior to the contract= $0 contract cancellation fee
June 1 thru Sept 21: $500 and 50% of the remaining fall semester’s room and board charges.
Sept 21 date thru May of the next year: $500 and 50% of the remaining fall and spring semester’s room and board charges.
Cancellation fees are not assessed for the following circumstances: Graduation in December, withdrawal from UNK, change in enrollment below full-time status, study abroad in an approved program, resident teaching, academic internship, pregnancy, marriage, or military service requiring residents to live outside the Kearney area. Proper documentation must be provided a minimum of five (5) business days in advance of the requested cancellation date.
Some places do require a security deposit. While some places do guarantee that you are able to receive the refund for the security deposit, you will want to ask the landlord if interest is accrued on the deposit and how frequently the full deposit is returned at the end of a lease.
UNK’s Answer:There is a $50 application fee assessed the first time you apply to live with us and only the first time. In Village Flats, we do have a $250 down payment that is applied toward your first month’s rent. Otherwise, we apply a METS fee each semester to all students to assist with the cost of improving items in the residence hall or fixing damaged furniture. The dollar amount for that fee is located on our website, it was $5 in 2023.
Some places automatically apply renters insurance to the cost of rent for all tenants. Other places require you to have renters insurance in order to have a lease. Regardless, we encourage you to pursue renters insurance to avoid having all your belongings lost in a fire or other disaster.
UNK’s Answer:While we don’t require renters insurance, we do strongly encourage those staying with us to have renters insurance to cover costs of their belongings in the event of a fire or disaster.
Some units give you information to the landlord to call for situations that might occur while others do not. If you lock yourself out of your unit, they might require you to use a locksmith in town to gain access to your unit. If something happens to the unit that makes it uninhabitable, they might ask you to vacate. If it is a larger dwelling, they might have other units available in case of a problem.
UNK’s Answer:We have staff on call 24-7 for emergencies. UNKPD has a localized function to support our campus and can generally arrive to situations very quickly. UNK Facilities has operation specialist on call for issues concerning the building. Residence Life has emergency spaces we keep for difficult situations.
Some rental units do allow pets and others do not. ESAs are mandated legally, so you’d need to work with your landlord to get all approval paperwork submitted. Be sure to ask if there is an extra pet deposit.
UNK’s Answer: We do not allow pets. ESAs are approved through our Disability Support Services office on campus for students.
Some rental units have a shared garage, private garage, attached garage or unattached garage. Others rely on street parking near the unit.
UNK’s Answer:We do have parking available for an extra cost. Parking permits do run out, so you’ll want to make sure to get your permit when they start selling permits usually around June 1st.
There are generally four options for laundry. 1. No laundry on site- thus you’d need to use a laundry mat. 2. Coin operated unit that is available and usually shared with other tenants. 3. Laundry hook ups generally mean you’ll need to purchase a washer and dryer unit to do laundry there. 4. In unit washer and dryers that are owned or managed by the property.
UNK’s Answer:We have a $50 a semester fee for laundry to which we contract with a company to keep washers and dryers operational for campus residents. We do have a student worker go around to clean the machines monthly to assist with lint build up in the dryers.
UNK’s financial aid office does surveys to ask questions to students about their expenditure habits which includes students living off campus and their purchasing of meals. A study they shared in 2021 let us know that students typically are spending more than they projected on take out food when they live off campus. It is possible to save money, but it does require meal prep and planning to make it possible.
UNK’s Answer: We have several dining options available. Upper-class students have flexible meal plan options that make living on campus even more affordable. Check out the room and dining rates on our website.
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