COLUMBIA, Mo.–A new analysis has found that buying a home for a college student at 23 of 121 universities that were surveyed is actually cheaper than paying for room and board, according to the Mortgage Research Network.
The results don’t align perfectly with geography or population. Colleges in Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati show modest gains for homeowners, along with southern colleges in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Columbia, South Carolina, the analysis found.
“But room and board win out in other urban environments, especially on the super-expensive West Coast,” Mortgage Research Network stated. “For example, students at the University of Washington-Seattle would lose out when buying a home, paying about $83,000 more than room and board over three years. Sky-high home prices are to blame for the uneven calculations, matching similarly negative results at the University of Colorado-Boulder, University of California-San Diego and New York University.”
A Step Further
The company said its report goes a step further, calculating additional cost savings in home ownership beyond a typical three- or four-year college education. For example, it found three-year savings at Temple is nearly $30,000. but the homeowner can reap up to a $70,000 profit buying and holding the property for at least 10 years.
The cheapest place to buy a college kid a home? Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., which has the lowest average home price of $137,909.
“Mom and dad could come out nearly $19,000 ahead over three years in this deal, according to the survey,” the company said. “Even better, the property could save over $33,000 if held for 10 or more years.”
The University of Delaware, University of Alabama and University of Memphis in Tennessee round out the top five schools where it’s better to own a home than pay room and board, the report stated. West Coast and Rocky Mountain cities listed above make the bottom five, along with California State University-Fullerton in Orange County and Montclair State University in New Jersey.
The ’Booby Prize’
“Montclair State wins the booby prize in this report, coming in last place,” Mortgage Research Network said, noting “parents could lose up to $163,000 over three years buying a home near the college, instead of paying room and board. It lists the average home price in the New York suburb at $1.1 million, along with a total cost to own of nearly $10,000 per month.”
