Are you overwhelmed with the pressures of finding a place to live off campus? Do you know which lease to sign for which apartment? How about finding a roommate? Well, fear no more, because Off-Campus and Nontraditional Student Services will be hosting its first of several Off-Campus 101 informational sessions on Sept. 13 in the Escalante Room of Manchester Hall from 6 to 7 p.m.

Students will gain knowledge for getting apartments, signing leases and living off campus so they won’t be as intimidated to take the next step in their college careers. They will leave with free brochures, stress balls and valuable knowledge of how to be an educated consumer in terms of apartment hunting.

Michael Zajac, coordinator of Off-Campus, Nontraditional and Parent and Family Services, will explain information on community relations and safety issues. Students will gain knowledge on what it means to live in a community and what to expect as they move off campus.

“We have a really good working relationship with the property managers, but in this situation we are setting up the students to prepare them to rent. Property management companies are trying to get students to rent from them. We don’t want to give the appearance that we are preferring one property management company over another. We want to give students the university’s perspective of ‘this is what you need to know when renting a property’ or ‘here is what it’s like living in the town of Normal’ so that the students are prepared and educated,” Zajac said.

Three additional Off-Campus 101 sessions are scheduled for September 14, 20, and 21 allowing students several opportunities to learn what it means to live off campus. They will be held in various residence halls and other locations on campus.

“I really, really encourage students to come to this event because over the past 5.5 years this office and our students attorney office has met with a number of students who didn’t understand the terms and conditions of a lease. They didn’t understand what to expect when living off campus, and we will answer all those questions. We will diffuse the nervousness that goes on with trying to find an apartment and help them through that process so they won’t be so worried,” Zajac said.

For more information about additional sessions, or general inquiries about the sessions, visit deanofstudents.illinoisstate.edu/students/get-help/off-campus-service/programs.shtml.