We’ll let you in on a little secret: San Antonio is poised to become one of the coolest cities in the country. It’s one of the fastest growing major cities around but it’s also an insanely cheap place to rent an apartment, buy a home and yep, you guessed it, find a storage unit. With a booming job market, ultra-low cost of living and picturesque Texas setting, San Antonio might be the one college town where you don’t have to live like a broke college student. Here’s the lowdown on university storage in the Alamo City:
Storage is Cheap, and College Specials Make it Even Cheaper
With
more than 200 storage facilities in San Antonio, it’s easy for everyone to find the space they need. Two of San Antonio’s biggest colleges are
The University of Texas at San Antonio and
Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Together, their enrollment is about 35,000. Even if you factor in other smaller schools, there are still more than 110,000 individual storage units available throughout the city. However, as a student, don’t forget that you’ll be competing for space with the rest of the city too, so be sure to reserve your unit as early as you can. Once you’ve figured out
what you need to store, you can figure out what size unit is best for you. The most popular sizes in San Antonio are 5x5 and 10x10. Odds are, as a student you won’t need much space, so these will be the sizes you’ll be looking at. The good news is, they’re affordable. The bad news is, they’re in demand. You can solve both problems by looking for student specials. Several San Antonio facilities offer specials like three months (aka summer break) at one flat rate that can include things like packing supplies and a lock. Another way to save even more money is by
sharing a storage unit with a friend. Just make sure it’s a friend who knows how to pay rent.
Campus Housing and Storage
If you’re attending
St. Mary's University, you’ll be required to live in the dorms as a freshman. This is an awesome way to make friends, but it also means tight quarters and limited closet space. If you’re someone who dreams of rolling into campus with an epic fall wardrobe (and a winter one, and a spring one, and a summer one) this is basically a nightmare. But don’t despair. Consider using your storage unit like an extra closet. Store at a place like
Alamo Mini Storage that’s just a five minute drive or half hour walk away and you can access your storage unit almost as easily as you can your actual closet. And remember, when the time comes for you to move out of the dorms and into an apartment, choosing a facility that rents out moving trucks will help make the move as painless as possible because it’s much, much easier to rent a truck from a business you’re already familiar with and already going to be utilizing on moving day than to add something new into the mix. If you’re a student at Texas A&M, you’re probably already living in an apartment as housing is still being built and won’t be available until 2017. There’s a chance you might catch a glimpse of the school’s Spanish Mission style architecture and start longing for the day when you can live on campus. Temporary storage for San Antonians in situations like this is one of the most common reasons for storage and can really help you out when you’re in a pinch.
Summer Break and Storage
We’d give this advice to anyone seeking storage in San Antonio, but to college students, it’s especially important: You probably need
climate control. If you’re leaving San Antonio for summer vacation, you don’t want to subject the contents of your storage unit to the heat and humidity. The heat isn’t a huge deal on its own, but the humidity sure is. Any time you’ve got moisture entering a storage unit, you’ve got a problem. Items like posters, photos and all of those other paper based dorm decorations you totally shouldn’t have to plan on replacing can melt together. Items like books and clothing can be susceptible to mold. It’s okay if the words “climate controlled storage unit” sound foreign to you. Every good facility manager knows their importance and will likely discuss this option with you as soon as you even mention summer vacation.
