As any UT student knows, finding off-campus housing can be a daunting task. However, even more troublesome is the situation for student subletters. 

Because most apartment leases have a 12-month duration, many students face challenges when they have to vacate their apartments before lease termination, whether due to academic programs, taking time off from school or another reason. To avoid financial burdens, these students desperately try to sublet their apartments. 

UT New Student Services has begun to address this problem, and general off-campus housing issues, through its Off-Campus Housing Marketplace, which the department launched in 2020. This service is exclusive to UT students and provides a secure and structured way to make housing connections. 

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However, this program has much work to do with student outreach. UT New Student Services should continue to develop its Off-Campus Housing Marketplace in order to assist UT students who want to sublet their apartments. In turn, student subletters should post on this service to more efficiently match with students in search of off-campus housing. 

While there should surely be demand for subleasing options, it seems that supply severely outweighs student demand. 

Tobias Morier, international relations and Spanish junior, struggled with subletting his apartment. 

“I eventually gave up because it’s just too much of a buyers market for subleases,” Morier said. “It’s very challenging, and it can get pretty demotivating when you realize that it’s just very challenging to sublease your own apartment.”

Clearly the UT student subleasing process is already challenging due to a lack of student demand, especially during the spring semester and the summer. However, the Off-Campus Housing Marketplace could improve this situation by offering students a centralized place to connect with each other and compare their housing options.   

Paige Muehlenkamp-McHorse, assistant director of UT off-campus outreach, said there were over 106,000 students who referenced the service in 2022, more than twice as many as the previous year.   

“It has been really rewarding to be able to match those students through the platform, and give them a good alternative,” Muehlenkamp-McHorse said. 

Despite the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has experienced exponential growth. While there isn’t significant data which shows that student subletters are finding unrivaled success on this platform, the traffic numbers are encouraging and show that the site is gaining traction. What it needs now is even more users who can provide for those interested in off-campus housing options. 

“As there’s more people engaging with it, there are going to be more options that are suitable for people’s needs or wants,” Muehlenkamp-McHorse said. 

If this service is able to continue its current rate of growth and flourish in the coming years, it could be an invaluable resource for students who struggle with subleasing. Not only does it provide security to students by ensuring authenticated users, but it also allows for a network of reliable communication between students with compatible needs.

For these reasons, further growth of the Off-Campus Housing Marketplace would greatly benefit student subletters and help solve many of the headaches involved in the search for off-campus housing. 

D’Eramo is a Plan II and international relations junior from Tyler, Texas.