New NYU program lets students live in local seniors’ spare bedrooms
As a way to offer lower-cost housing options, NYU is piloting a program this fall that will let students live in the spare bedrooms of local senior citizens. Dubbed the “home stay” program, it would cut in half the university’s housing bill, reports the Post, as well as provide income to hosts. According to Gothamist, the program is part of a larger affordability initiative that NYU President Andrew Hamilton put forth when he assumed his role in January. The school’s $65,000/year tuition makes it the third most expensive in the country, and undergraduate housing ranges from $10,500 for a shared bedroom to $21,000 for a private suite.
The program is a partnership with the Lower East Side’s University Settlement, which works with low-income seniors and already has a volunteer-based relationship with NYU. There’s already a similar initiative in Chicago where students from DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago “are provided free private bedrooms in a senior facility in exchange for 20 hours a week doing light housekeeping, grocery shopping and giving computer lessons,” explains the Post. NYU’s program will launch in September with 10 “mature” juniors, seniors, or grad students.
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