Finding Housing in Boston

Boston is a wonderful city in which to live. It is a city of history, art, architecture, technology, and education, as it has more than sixty colleges in the metropolitan area. It is a diverse city with a mix of people and cultures, and is the perfect metropolitan backdrop for theological education. Check out BU Graduate Education’s page on living in Boston here!

For many of our entering students the fast-moving urban environment is a significant change of scenery. Transitioning to living in a major American city can be daunting, but the Admissions team is here to help ease your transition.  We have many resources to help you start your search, and care share advice about navigating the unique Boston rental market. While the Admissions staff cannot serve as real estate agents or housing brokers for our students, we can share hard-won wisdom about how to find safe and secure housing in this beautiful city!

Every year an entire entering class of students from all over the country and world – from rural, suburban, and urban areas – relocate to Boston. All these students find housing suitable for them, and this will be the case for you as well, if you take timely steps toward securing housing when opportunities arise.

Searching for Housing in Boston

As you begin to search for housing in Boston, there are a few very important things you should know:

1. You must take the initiative to find housing. The School of Theology’s Enrollment Office can provide leads to some potential residences, and can be helpful in providing advice and answering questions about the Boston housing market, but we cannot make all the necessary arrangements for you. You should begin looking for housing at least three months before your intended matriculation date.

Make sure to take advantage of all of the broader BU community’s resources in your housing search, such as this helpful site on “Finding Housing in Boston” from the BU Graduate Education Office.

• Boston University Graduate Housing maintains roughly 1,000 apartment units that are rented out on a first come, first serve basis to BU’s graduate student population. Rentals through BU graduate housing are for a full calendar year and function similarly to a private apartment lease.
• Boston University’s Off-Campus Housing Office partners with Apartments.com to offer access to private apartment listings and roommate requests exclusive to the Boston University student community.
• Read the BU Graduate Education Office’s guide to Boston’s many distinct neighborhoods here.
• Be sure to also check the City of Boston’s housing resources for more information, such as their “Tips for Renters” page.

(Please note that neither the School of Theology nor Boston University as a whole is able to guarantee housing placements to graduate students. Graduate students are expected to locate their own housing whether through a BU marketplace or on the private market.)

2. You have options to consider. Do you want to live on- or off-campus? Do you want to live by yourself or with roommates? How much space do you need? What kind of commute works for you? What is your budget range?

How you answer these questions will influence the rental price you will pay. If you have no idea where to start, get in touch with our Enrollment Office and speak to our staff about your priorities and budget. They should be able to steer you toward some options, or put you in touch with an area realtor who can do so.

3. There are lots of towns that offer access to campus. STH is located at 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215. That puts it in an ideal location for public transportation, as both the subway (which we call the “T”) and buses stop directly in front of our building. (See the Visiting Campus section of the website for directions to campus.) The sections of Boston that are within easy walking, biking, or public transit access to campus include Allston, Brighton, Brookline, Cambridge and Cambridgeport, Fenway, Back Bay, and Jamaica Plain. Slightly farther away are Watertown, Somerville, Norwell, Quincy, Medford, Roslindale, Dorchester, West Roxbury, Needham, Newton, Auburndale, and Waltham, but students have found good housing options in those places as well. Towns farther away from campus are worth a look especially for those coming with children. Luckily, Boston and its surrounding towns all link via public transportation.

Be sure to check out the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) “Beginners Guide to the Subway” as you prepare to move to Boston!

4. STH offers access to some intentional community-based housing options, with priority given to entering students. If the idea of living in community with other students appeals to you, consider applying to live in one of STH’s intentional community housing opportunities! To apply to live in one of these residences, please contact the Enrollment Office (sthadmis@bu.edu).

Please note: there is often a waitlist for these properties, so it is best to secure a spot early. You must pay a deposit and sign a lease to secure a spot in any of these STH residential communities.

All STH’s intentional community locations are owned by external partners. Thus, students should be aware that they must sign and abide the stipulations outlined in each housing partner’s legally binding lease, similar to those used in private rental leases, in order to participate in the STH intentional community housed at that location.

5. Familiarize yourself with some of the unique aspects of the Boston housing market: Since Boston is one of the greatest university towns in the world, there is lots of competition in the field of apartment rentals. Rentals move quickly, and prize units are sometimes listed and rented on the same day.

However, because of the large number of graduate-student based renters, reputable brokers and agencies are often able to rent apartments from afar. While this is often nerve-wracking and seeing a unit in person is always better, many STH student rent apartments remotely with the help of a real estate broker. However, this often also leads to a wide-variety of housing based scams targeting graduate students. Keep a close eye out for the scams and know that if a deal seems too-good-to-be-true, it likely is.  See this page from BU off-campus housing about avoiding housing scams in the Boston market and this page from BU’s International Students & Scholars Office about avoiding scams that may target international students. 

In Boston, many apartment units are listed and rented by real estate brokers who may charge a fee of up to one month’s rent for their services. If you see an apartment listed with a “full fee,” this usually means one months rent will be required as a broker’s fee. “Half-fee” refers to a half-month’s rent, and “no fee” means no brokers fee is required. Be sure to read the City of Boston’s “Top Ten Things Tenants Need to Know” on this page and read through the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s “Real estate brokers and salespersons consumer fact sheet.”

Lastly, a large percentage of graduate student-centered leases turnover on Sept. 1st each year. This day is known as “Allston Christmas” in the Allston/Brighton neighborhoods of Boston and is a unique and carnivalesque aspect of the graduate student experience in Boston!

STH Housing Options

Theology House 

Housing Partner: Boston University Housing

2 Raleigh Street, Boston, MA 02215 

*Please note Theology House is not ADA accessible, as it has no elevator and many stairs.

This on-campus residence holds 20 first-year master’s-level students, and is an intentional community where students engage in structured programming focused on community-building, moral and theological reflection, and vocational discernment. All floors are gender-inclusive. All residents agree to participation in weekly community dinners and other programming throughout the school year, September to May. To enable residents to participate fully in the life of the Theology House intentional community, STH offers a housing stipend to reduce the cost of living on-campus. This means that the cost of Theology House is very reasonable compared to other on-campus housing.

Built in the 1890s by Boston-based architect Arthur Little, the building that now houses Theology House was once a private home before being purchased by Boston University and renovated into one of BU’s unique brownstone-style residence halls. The building is set up in dormitory fashion with some single rooms and some double rooms. There are single-occupancy, private bathrooms on each floor that are shared by multiple rooms.

As a building owned by BU Housing and managed by BU Residence Life, members of the Theology House are required to abide by the residential policies outlined in the BU Lifebook.

Here is what each type of furnished room costs:

• Double Occupancy (2024 – 2025 charges):
  The University charge for an on-campus double room is $12,180 per academic year. However, after the Theology House Fellowship, there are no additional costs for students in a double occupancy room.
• Single Occupancy (2024 – 2025 charges):
  The University charge for an on-campus single room is $15,990 per academic year. However, after the Theology House Fellowship, students living in a single occupancy room will be only charged $3,810 per academic year ($1,905 per semester), or the equivalent of $423.33 per month for the academic year.
• Optional Board (2024 – 2025 charges):
  $6,840 per meal plan (regular or kosher) – other options for meal plans are available, including Convenience Points only. Please see the University’s Dining Plan website for more information. Residents do not have to have a dining plan to live in Theology House. Grocery stores are available in the area and there is a communal kitchen.

Beane House

Located on Strathmore Road in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood (02135)

Housing Partner: Privately-owned apartment leased to STH students by a local couple

Beane House is a privately owned property, STH partners with the landlords who rent the building’s three apartments exclusively to STH students. Beane House is just a short T-ride away from STH, with shops, restaurants, and a community library nearby. This well-maintained building is a classic Brighton style with bay windows and a brick facade. It contains three apartments. Each of the two top floors contain a 5-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment, and the first floor contains a 4-bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. The building also has two washers and dryers accessible to residents in the basement.

Each apartment has a living room area with space for a dining room table, a kitchen, and a covered back porch. Bedrooms come furnished with a simple dorm-style bed, chair, desk, and dresser. All residents are expected to be present for community meals and gatherings organized by the Beane House Coordinator. This space is a favorite of upper-level master’s students and doctoral students, with priority given to incoming students when spaces become available.

Students may live in Beane House for up to three years or six semesters. Rent includes all utilities and must be paid promptly on the first of each month. Leases are for one year, September 1st through August 31st.

Current and prospective residents must apply each year to live in Beane House (current residents must also reapply to Beane House each year).

For the 2024/2025 leases, residents pay $1075 per month. For participating in the intentional community partnership between STH and the Beane House, residents of Beane House receive the STH Intentional Community Fellowship. That Fellowship provides community members a scholarship equal to $400 per month to assist with the cost of living in Beane and to enable residents to engage more fully in the community life of STH.

United Methodist Student Housing Network (UMSHN)

Housing Partners: Union Combined Parish, First Community, UMC (Medford), and First Church UMC (Winthrop)

Leading United Methodist Churches in the Boston area have converted their church parsonages into affordable housing available to seminary students at the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH).

These Houses are set up as intentional living communities where student residents build community together and enrich each other’s spiritual formation, with the support of a local congregation. Student residents are expected to contribute to maintaining a clean home and participating in house meetings. They are shared, gender-inclusive houses with 3-5 bedrooms each and cost between $800-$1000 per month. (Some of the houses include utilities in the rental rate and some do not.)

UMC House leases are for a full-calendar year and rent must be paid promptly on the first of the month. These leases are private agreements made between students the UMC church who owns the building housing their intentional community.

UMC House residents in good standing are eligible to receive the $400 per month STH intentional community housing scholarship.

Placement in these Houses is for: 2nd and 3rd year MDiv or MTS students and STM students, with priority given to international students and those with demonstrated need for safe, affordable housing. Each year, current residents and prospective residents submit an application to stay in one of the Houses for that year. (Current residents in a UMC House must reapply each year.) 

This application is for the following houses for the 2024-2025 school year:

• Brighton Methodist House (Union Combined Parish, Brighton, MA)
• Casa Raices Latinas (First Community UMC, Medford, MA)
• Glendale Methodist House (Union Combined Parish, Everett, MA)
• Hilda Evans House (Union Combined Parish, Roxbury, MA)
• Winthrop House (First Church UMC), Winthrop, MA)

Applications are reviewed by the BUSTH Housing Committee and the UMC Student Housing Coordinating Team. Applications for