During May, my college announced that it will open campus back up for the fall semester with restrictions to keep COVID-19 from possibly spreading. One restriction is that all dorm rooms will become single-person rooms and one dorm will not be open. This has led many students, such as myself, to find places to live off-campus.

In reality, I had started to look for an apartment or rental house off-campus before the coronavirus shook Missouri. Originally, I had planned to find somewhere to live where I could room with one of my friends who has already graduated. We had been looking at a rental house where we would room with a few more of our friends that were already living there.

When the coronavirus started spreading in Missouri, my friend and I went our separate ways to live with our families during the statewide shutdown. We had tried to continue looking for something, but with the uncertainty of the situation, we couldn't make plans to do anything.

When the school announced that all on-campus housing will become one-person rooms, I decided that I would look for an off-campus apartment for myself so that other people that needed the dorms could have my room. I also wanted to live in a place that didn't have a communal bathroom so I could further reduce my risk of getting infected. That's when I discovered just how busy the local apartment and rental house market became as many students started looking for housing.

I had been thinking about a few one-person economy apartments, but after forgetting to call the apartment's office about renting a room, all of the options I looked I were gone. Eventually I found something that I am happy about and started my application as fast as I could. If all goes well, I should be able to move in in August.

My advice is this, if your college has reduced their housing in response to COVID-19, and you're considering living off-campus, act as quickly as you can. Housing is about to be snatched up quicker than it normally is as we approach the fall semester. Most importantly, find a place to live where you feel safe.