Are you planning to leave your home country and study abroad? Finding a place to live while going to school away from home can be tough! There is so much to consider before you know you have found the right place to finally settle down, so here is a list of places you might want to check out first:
Off-Campus
1. HOEM
HOEM can be considered a luxury on-campus residence building. It is Ryerson’s largest residence. This building features bi-weekly in-suite cleaning, a maker space, rooms with full kitchens, and more. It is the only Ryerson residence building that offers fitness facilities. It is equally available for first-year and upper-year students. Once again, HOEM’s residence installment fees are double the fees for Pitman and ILLC, however, it does promise more comfortable living.
2. Parkside Student Residence
Parkside caters to multiple schools, such as Ryerson University, University of Toronto, OCAD, George Brown College and other nearby colleges. It features an inclusive fitness centre, a recreation centre, its own on-site dining program, multiple lounges, and outdoor terrace, and much more. Despite how Parkside describes its facilities, there has been controversy about this building. Ryerson’s Eyeopener newspaper discusses students’ complaints about Parkside’s overpriced monthly rent for the number of concerns and unwanted changed students experienced while living there.
On-Campus
1. Pitman Hall
As of now, Pitman Hall is one of the buildings offering more variety in rooms, featuring single, double, paired, and a 4 or 5 bedroom apartment. In comparison to ILLC, it offers bicycle parking for all the bikers commuting to school. As well, it has two offices inside the building, the Academic Link Office and the Housing & Residence Life Office. With that in mind, it compares highly to the International Living & Learning Centre but offers more accessibility for students.
2. Daphne Cockwell Complex
The Daphne Cockwell Complex is the newest Ryerson on-campus residence building that opened in 2019. This building offers many new features, such as barrier-free units, a lobby retail eatery, a green roof, and greywater collection and reuse. This building features a central laundry room, different from the floor laundry rooms available at Pitman Hall and ILLC. For this residence building, you are paying a higher price for its new features and amenities, as the residence installment fees are almost double in comparison to Pitman and ILLC.
3. International Living & Learning Centre
The International Living & Learning Centre (ILLC) offers a lobby study lounge on top of the floor lounges that are featured both at Pitman Hall and ILLC. It opened 3 years after Pitman Hall, in 1994, making it a tad newer, but not by much.
If you are an international student that is new to the city, this should act as an extra helpful guide for when you look at your housing options. Think about what suits you best and what type of residence experience you are looking for first, and then use this guide to help you figure out what IS the best option for you!
