In Madison’s Tight Housing Market, Amenities Can Make or Break a Student’s Lease

UW–Madison mascot Bucky Badger gets some love from a resident already doing laundry as other new students move into Smith Residence Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on Aug. 30, 2023. Move-in continues through Sept. 1, and leads into weeks of Wisconsin Welcome programming and the start of the fall semester. (Photo by Jeff Miller / UW–Madison)

In Madison’s Tight Housing Market, Amenities Can Make or Break a Student’s Lease

MADISON, Wis. — For college students like Lily Bassett, navigating Madison’s surging housing market, finding an apartment that balances affordability, and livable amenities is increasingly a high-stakes game. One in which many find themselves forced to compromise.

By: Xitllali De La Torre Sanchez

Lily Bassett is a junior studying Psychology at UW-Madison currently living at 420 West, her building is just a five- to ten-minute walk from campus, she says proximity was not her primary focus.

“I was more just concerned about getting an apartment than I was about the location. I did want to stay near the downtown area, so that was more of a factor for me,” says Lily.

A college student’s housing search begins early in the school year, with listings for the following fall opening as soon as October. Competition is fierce, and the pressures of securing a lease collide with already demanding academic schedules.

“Last year, when I was trying to find this apartment, it was stressful,” said Bassett. “Every time I tried to apply to an apartment, I was just getting a no. All of the apartment information came out during midterm season, and they all got signed fast.”

While price and location dominate conversations about Madison’s housing squeeze, Bassett’s experience illustrates a crucial but often overlooked piece of the student housing crisis: amenities. For young adults often living away from home for the first time, basic amenities are not luxuries but necessities and are critical to both their quality of life and their sense of security.

“I definitely wanted in-building laundry,” Bassett said. “I didn’t really care about in-unit, but I wanted at least in-building so I didn’t have to go, you know, somewhere down the street or something.”

After experiencing the sweltering summers of Wisconsin in a previous unit without central air conditioning, it was non-negotiable the second time around.

“It was really important for me to have central AC, because my apartment last year did not have central AC, so that was a big issue,” said Bassett.

Pet policies also proved to be a major consideration, though Bassett found that information about them was not readily available on many listings.

“A lot of places didn’t have information on whether or not [I could] bring, you know, my cat in,” she said. “Luckily, my current apartment does allow that, but that was really difficult. Like, I had to call my apartment and ask, definitely about that, and not a lot of places made that publicly known.”

Amenities, Bassett pointed out, are not just about convenience — they can be critical to feeling safe. In her previous building, poor security measures led to uncomfortable and sometimes frightening situations.

“Both the doors you could get in through at all times,” she said. “A lot of times we’d find just homeless people sleeping on the couches in the main area, so that just didn’t feel safe.”

In contrast, her current building’s controlled access and better-designed common spaces make her feel more secure: “The setup of the main lobby area feels a lot safer.”

However, amenities, and the sense of dignity and safety they provide, often come at a steep cost. Rising rents in Madison are forcing many students to choose between basic comforts and financial survival.

“I feel like a lot of people end up having to move far away, or have to really compromise on the things that they want and stuff, just so that they can get a lower price,” Bassett said. “Housing is just extremely unaffordable here.”

As Madison continues to grapple with an affordable housing shortage, the experiences of students like Bassett reveal how the conversation must move beyond square footage and monthly rent. For students entering adulthood and independence, amenities, from laundry facilities to air conditioning to pet policies, are deeply tied to both well-being and success.

Sources:

Lily Bassett, Psychology student at UW-Madison, (847)910-6493, lbassett@wisc.edu

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