The College Apartment Checklist

Your first off-campus apartment needs everything the dorm provided: kitchen gear, cleaning supplies, utilities in your name — plus a roommate plan for what's shared versus owned.

A dorm quietly handled a lot for you: furniture, a meal plan, custodians, utilities baked into housing costs. An apartment hands all of that back. The good news — most of it can be covered cheap if you know which items are fine from the dollar store and which few are worth real money.

What's actually new (vs the dorm)

• A kitchen. The single biggest change. You need gear, groceries, and at least three meals you can cook.
• Cleaning. No custodians. Bathrooms, floors, and trash day are yours now.
• Utilities in your name. Electric, maybe gas and water, definitely internet — set up before move-in, split with roommates in writing.
• Furniture. The dorm bed and desk stay behind. Budget for a mattress before anything decorative.
• Renters insurance. Many leases require it; student stuff (laptop!) is exactly what it covers.

Three days before move-in

1. Confirm the key pickup time, elevator rules, and the move-in address.
2. Start electric, gas, and internet service for the date you receive the keys.
3. Pack one first-night bag with bedding, towels, toiletries, chargers, and a basic tool kit.
4. Agree with roommates who is bringing shared kitchen, bathroom, and cleaning supplies.

Put the boring setup on a calendar

A week or two before keys, confirm the internet order, ask the landlord when electric and water become your responsibility, and buy only the supplies needed for the first night. On move-in day, photograph the meter and every room before furniture arrives. During the first week, set up laundry access, trash collection, grocery basics, and the roommate bill split. The 8-week moving checklist gives those handoffs a place on the calendar.

Roommates: share vs own

Have this conversation before anyone shops, or you get the classic: one apartment, one fridge, four toasters, zero can openers. The split that works:

Share (buy one, split it or take turns)

• Fridge, microwave, toaster, kettle (one each — the four-toaster apartment is real)
• Couch, TV, coffee table
• Vacuum, broom, mop, cleaning supplies (with a plan for who buys refills)
• Wi-Fi router and the internet bill
• Shower curtain, bath mat, plunger
• Trash cans and a shared bag stash

Own (yours, labeled if it comes to that)

• Everything in your bedroom
• Your towels (trust us)
• Your own plate/bowl/cup/silverware set — dish disputes end here
• Laptop, chargers, desk stuff
• Anything you'd be upset to lose when the lease ends and everyone scatters

Lease fine print worth reading

• 9-month vs 12-month: some student leases run the school year, most don't. A 12-month lease means paying (or subletting) all summer.
• Subleasing: check whether it's allowed and what approval it needs — before you count on it for summer.
• Joint vs individual liability: on a joint lease, a roommate who bails leaves everyone else covering their rent. Ask which kind you're signing.
• Co-signers: most student leases want one — line up the parent paperwork before application day.

Keep a simple shared note with the lease term, utility accounts, due dates, and who owns each shared item. That turns “I thought you were handling it” into a written handoff before the semester gets busy.

Related

• The complete first apartment checklist
• The first grocery list (stock a kitchen from zero)
• The first apartment budget
• The move-in day checklist