Harvard’s twelve Houses have lost their appeal for some students who enjoyed off-campus living during the Covid-19 crisis. Even after most students returned to the time-honored tradition of on-campus housing in the fall of 2021, 265 undergraduates remained in off-campus housing–more than double the Harvard standard of roughly 100 students. These self-exiled students are attracted to the benefits of extra space and unsupervised housing offered by independent apartment living. The upperclassmen Houses have welcomed the Class of 2025, but with record high class sizes, many upperclassmen are squished in doubles and other unsatisfactory housing arrangements.
Harvard College prides itself on the centuries-old lore of the housing system. “Most students and alumni consider the House system one of the hallmarks of their Harvard experiences. Considering the diversity of student backgrounds, interests, and talents, Harvard’s residential program enhances the degree to which students learn from one another,” reads the College website. Harvard offers—and encourages—on-campus housing to all undergraduates during the four years.
The authentic Harvard spirit found in the twelve Houses induces most students to remain in the Houses. Madison Pankey ’24 considered the benefits of off-campus housing with her roommates but ultimately believes she would have regretted leaving Dunster House for a more adult lifestyle. “People who live off campus aren’t in the House community at all,” Pankey shared. “That’s one reason why I wouldn’t want to [move off campus] where I’m at right now as a junior. I love being in my House and I love getting to see everybody. Off-campus friends don’t go to House [events and common spaces].”
Most on-campus Harvard students appreciate the spontaneous conversations found with their fellow housemates over unfinished homework and late-night munchies. However, with the exodus into apartments and the looming effects of the pandemic, the House identity has weakened.
“Twenty or thirty years ago, the Houses used to have a unique and independent feel. Students were grouped together by interest a little more, which makes House identity feel a little stronger,” says Nicholas Hutchinson ’23, a current senior living in an off-campus apartment with friends. He credits the random selection of students in each House for its lack of community.
Hutchinson was ultimately motivated to leave campus not because of a weakening appreciation for the Houses, but for the ability to host social or academic events. “[Our apartment] allows us to host more people… whether tha’’s dinners, events, or parties, or really anything throughout the days or the weekend,” he says. “It’s much more flexible, and a nice space to have.”
When residential life at Harvard was closed during the 2020-2021 school year, many undergraduates lived in apartments in the Cambridge area in an attempt to salvage a community around campus. After a taste of the off-campus benefits, some students resist the transition back to supervised living and shared bedrooms in the Houses.
Clara Steiner ’24 said the transition back to campus life is difficult, arguing that off-campus living “is more popular amongst kids that took gap years… If you have lived in an apartment, you know what that’s like and don’t want to go back to a dorm. I guess that’s backwards.” Steiner was driven to off-campus housing after living in a dorm for six years in boarding school and undergraduate housing.
Before being placed into one of the twelve Houses, Harvard first-years are required to create blocking groups of up to eight students assigned to the same House. After blocking by herself, Steiner was randomly assigned a roommate in Eliot House, and subsequently chose to live off-campus in order to live with other friends beyond Eliot.
Harvard’s residential life allows students to transfer into another House, but the system is flawed. Transfer placements often get confirmed a week before move in, after all roommate preferences have been submitted. “There is a lot of uncertainty with transferring,” Steiner admits. “I just needed secure housing, and I knew [an apartment] was going to work well… You don’t always find out [your new House] until the very end of the summer.”
After moving from Adams House to an off-campus apartment, Hutchinson accepts “a marginal change” to his college experience without a House community. “I think going into the [dining] hall is super nice to interact with people…that you don’t necessarily spend time with that often. It was nice to chat up with very various good, different people,” says Hutchinson as he reminisces on his experience in Adams House.
While still a proponent of Harvard’s unique housing system, Pankey denied the notion that off-campus housing is always more expensive than room and board. “If you do off-campus housing correctly, like it can totally be cheaper, especially without the food plan,” she added.
Many students are still wary of the economic and social disparity between students on and off campus. Steiner admits this as her primary concern with her new apartment. “Cambridge rent is crazy expensive,” Steiner shared. “Is this just putting me in a group of people exactly in my situation instead of branching out anymore?” she considered, regarding leaving her Harvard-assigned roommate in Eliot. ”
Eliza Kimball ’25 (elizakimball@college.harvard.edu) wrote this article in a Dunster-courtyard hammock.