Thanks to a couple of ASU entrepreneurs, there is a new way for students to find well-rated student housing.
OffCampusReportCard.com is a website that publishes reviews of different off-campus housing or student-populated properties near ASU and a few other universities in the country.
Students can go to the website and “grade” their own housing location. They can review different aspects of their living experience, from parking to Internet connection.
The website lists several apartment complexes or student housing properties in the Tempe area and gives them report cards by compiling the reviews of student residents. Based on each grade, the property accumulates a grade point average, and is compared with other properties in the area.
Economics junior Tyler Hughes and film and media studies junior Larry Lynn came up with the idea while working together leasing apartments to students.
“We wanted to make it easier for out-of-state students who may not have an opportunity to visit a property before school starts,” Lynn said. “I was lucky and had a great off-campus living experience. A lot of people haven’t been so lucky, and their college experiences have suffered from it.”
Lynn and Hughes paired up to create a website to inform students about housing opportunities. In October, Lynn and Hughes began work on the design and construction of the website. It was launched within the same month.
“We simply want to make more information available to students so that they can make well-informed decisions,” Lynn said.
As out-of-state students, Lynn and Hughes felt they would be giving students something they would have used themselves before moving into off-campus housing.
The website is organized by university, and is available for ASU and UA students, as well as select schools in North Carolina and Maryland, where Lynn is originally from. Hughes and Lynn hope to make it a national resource for students across the nation.
“With almost instant feedback and interest we knew we needed to make this happen,” Hughes said. “This opportunity we’ve created is something good and resourceful.”
The two-student team has expanded, and now has five group members. Using their own funds, they hope to create a much larger staff with a nationwide audience.
Sociology junior Kyle Decker is currently involved with Web design and programming.
“My goal is to help myself grow as an individual and professional and to bring Off CampusReportCard.com to the highest quality resource it can be,” Decker said.
Like Hughes and Lynn, Decker is a full-time student at ASU.
The team is currently working on an updated version of the website, which will have a launch party in the near future. Anyone who “likes” the current website on Facebook or has graded a property will receive an invitation to the party.
Another incentive offered is entering the first 500 students who grade their living experiences into a drawing to win Studio Beats by Dre headphones.
Reach the reporter at mdparret@asu.edu