How Self Storage Benefits College Students In Boston

By Stephanie Hyland, Storage.com

College is as full of new adventures as your car is on the day you move in to your dorm. Storage.com can help you tackle your college career with helpful tips or by providing you a safe storage solution for summer breaks.

People who typically find themselves in the market for a self storage unit are in the middle of the moving process, making room for new family members, or relocating vehicles that aren’t used year-round. However, there’s another demographic that can benefit from self storage—college students.

In cities like Boston, Ma., which is home to more than 100 colleges and universities and nicknamed “America’s College Town,” self storage is frequently used by college students.

Boston Self Storage and UniversitiesThroughout their education, college students in Boston have to deal with cluttered spaces and moving back and forth between different living arrangements. During school, students in dorm rooms have to share space with other students, so there’s not much room for personal belongings. Come time for summer break, thousands of students—particularly those from outside of the state—have to pack up their dorm belongings in cars or rented moving trucks and head to the homes of their parents or guardians.

It’s for these very reasons that college students in Boston use self storage.

Jim DiNardo, operations manager at Boston Seaport Self Storage, says he also sees a variety of Boston college students using self storage when they study abroad or when they’re international students returning home for the summer. “[They] need a safe place to store their stuff while they are gone,” he says.

Since the opening of Boston Seaport Self Storage’s doors in December 2013, DiNardo says the locker-size units have been common among the student demographic, especially since they can reserve them online. “Students usually just need a small space for a fridge or a small chair. The lockers have been very popular and are affordable. We have a couple hundred at our facility.”

Joel Pedlikin, co-owner of Lazybones Laundry and Storage, agrees that self storage is useful for college students, even if they don’t need to store as much as other storage renters.

“Students are storing mostly boxes or plastic bins of their smaller belongings, as well as dorm fridges, microwaves, mattresses, TVs, and some small furniture like chairs and shelves,” Pedlikin says. “In Boston, we see the most business from Boston University, Northeastern University, and Bentley University.”

One of the reasons why Lazybones Laundry and Storage sees a large demographic of student storage renters is due to their pick-up/delivery service and proximity to several big-name universities. This makes it easier for students to move items of all sizes out of their residence halls and into storage without having to leave campus. It also makes for easier retrieval since Lazybones drops items off when students need them.

Boston Self Storage Quote“We have trucks constantly on all these campuses during the busy season,” says Pedlikin, adding that keeping the storage process simple for students lessens their stress during move-in and move-outs from on-campus housing. “Almost all of our storage and shipping business is done over the summer, starting in late spring when students move out of their dorms and need someone to store their stuff until they come back to a new dorm room in the fall.”

Being able to reserve a storage unit online or finding a storage service that’s willing to come to campus is the perfect option for a busy college student who doesn’t have the time to break away from studying or their work schedule to find a storage facility that best suits their needs. But it’s equally important to consider the location of the storage facility, as the closer it is to home, work, or school, the easier it is to grab items when they’re needed.

Pricing is important, too. Considering most storage facilities in Boston cater to students, it’s always smart for students to find out what kind of deals or discounts a facility offers for students at local colleges or universities.

“We advertise extensively around most campuses, and our advertising always includes a coupon code for 10 percent or 15 percent off any storage order,” says Pedlikin. “We also offer larger discounts to student organizations that sign up a lot of students to use our services.”

Another good idea is to think about sharing a storage unit with a friend or roommate to save money. Since most college students are on tight budgets and may not be able to afford the space or storage features they need, doubling up with a friend or roommate would allow a student to get more storage space with the right features for less than they would pay on their own.

No matter how long you need to store items, give Boston self storage some thought. It’s worth saving yourself the hassle of trying to fit everything you own into an already cramped dorm room, and it will keep you from having to fill your car to the brim just to get everything home for the summer.

Find and rent a storage unit in Boston today!