Review these resources:  

• 735 Main is a living/learning community for graduate students.
• Facebook Graduate Student Housing Forum to assist graduate students with finding housing and roommates
• Listing website to look for an available apartment and/or roommate.  
• Housing Guide for what various apartment complexes have to offer and where they are located  
• Downtown apartment complexes are “appropriate for a more mature student.”  
• Off-Campus Guidebook to familiarize yourself with how to go about living off campus, what you should be thinking about, and what signing a contract/lease means.  

I don’t have a guarantor nor a social security number

• A social security number (SSN) is what allows a company/vendor/employer to check someone’s financial history in the US. 
• A guarantor is a US citizen who is expected to pay in case someone does not honor their lease
• These 2 pieces of information are almost always requested when completing a housing interest/application form.
• Finding a financial guarantor and obtaining a SSN at this point in time is very unlikely.
• The reason a landlord or property manager is asking for this information is to evaluate your credit history and whether you are fiscally responsible.
• To resolve this situation and to provide proof of revenue: 
• Option A- Share your graduate assistantship’s (GA) offer letter (if any) since it stipulates what your assistantship pays and covers. 
• Option B- If Option A did not work or does not apply to you, contact Thomas Lavenir and ask for a letter stipulating that you have provided proof of funding to the ISSS office to obtain a student visa.
• Most housing interest/application form are online and may have required the SSN and Guarantor answer fields. See if you can leave the field blank by pressing the space bar a few times, enter “n/a” or enter: “111111111”. At times this will be the only way that you can obtain the landlord/property manager’s email address. Once you do, you can explain your situation to them.

• When reaching out to potential roommates, ask them if they are undergraduate or graduate students. Undergraduate student lifestyles can differ greatly from those of graduate students.
• While most of the apartments may be around JMU, make sure to ask where the nearest bus stops can be found.
• If the apt that you are considering is not listed in the Housing Guide ask the contact person for plenty of information such as photos and walking distances to JMU.
• In addition to the deposit (most likely twice the monthly lease) and the agreed-upon rent cost, additional fees (like an internet activation fee) may apply. Some of these extra fees may include:

• • Renter’s insurance provides you, the tenant, coverage for loss or damages to property, etc. if there is an incident in your apartment or on the apartment property that leads to this damage. If you need to purchase your own renter's insurance, conduct an online search for renter's insurance and run a few comparisons to find the best choice.
  • Utilities (electricity, water, internet, etc.) If you will need to pay separately for utilities, use the UDAP Program to simplify this process. The online UDAP Form will ask for your US Driver’s License Number. If you do not have one:   
    • Create a fake number that starts with a letter of your choice followed by 8 numbers of your choice. Example: A12345678
    • For the Driver’s License Expiration Date, enter the Program End Date on your I-20.
    • For the Driver’s License State, enter VA.  
    • Complete and submit the contract. Use your 5-digit contract number to connect your utilities without a deposit. 

• Before completing/signing any forms (online ones included) make sure that you read the fine print. Completing an Interest Form is different than completing an Application or Opportunity to Rent Form.