I need advice on school and moving decisions
I (23f) just moved a couple days ago into my new apartment with my boyfriend and 3 pets. We moved earlier than we originally wanted to because his new job wanted him to start right away. The reason we moved is because I got in as a transfer student to one of the best public universities in the country with a full ride scholarship. I do want to preface by saying I am just finishing up my associates degree. However, I have felt no excitement for a while and have dreaded this move. I originally was going to go to a small public university about 45 minutes from where I live. It is right by the beach, familiar, small, close to home, close to my doctors and my pets vet, has amazing financial aid and scholarship opportunities, and has research, internship, and study abroad opportunities so really everything about the original school I was going to go to is perfect for me and what I want. I last minute applied to the bigger, more prestigious university with better research, internship, and study abroad opportunities because my community college English teacher insisted I apply and sent them a letter of recommendation for me so I applied. I did not expect to get in. I figured at the most I would get waitlisted. However, I got in with a full ride. I was so excited and everyone around me was as well. They all said I should give up the old school and go to this one because it’s better. I even fell in love with the prestigious schools campus and compared it harshly to the other schools campus. Well, a few months ago I withdrew my application from the original school I was going to go to and accepted the offer from the new one. Although, deep down, I felt very scared to do that. Now that we have moved, it’s been even worse. First, we moved to a new area that we both aren’t familiar with. I am currently unemployed and very lonely. He does not like his new job and our pets are very stressed right now. We’re stressed right now. I have to switch doctors and find a vet and get adjusted to a new area that I am already not a fan of because it’s a larger city with heavy traffic. I am used to a small coastal town with minimal traffic. Also, ever since we moved in, our apartment has been giving us issues. For starters, they called us the day before we moved in and asked us to move in a day later because they still needed to replace the carpets. We said no because his new job expected him to start the day after our original move in date. Next, when we got here after packing, moving furniture, and hauling all our stuff here, we were informed that the apartment was not clean, the carpets still needed to be replaced and that we weren’t allowed to used the two bedrooms for the night, and that the cleaning guy was there so we’d have to work around him. Keep in mind our moving date and time was June 8th at 3. We arrive around 4:30 because of traffic. The cleaning guy was there and told us he was told to come at 4 and didn’t even know anyone was moving in that day. He had to rush through his clean meaning that the apartment was still filthy after he left. I was literally wiping away hardened food from the counter tops. That night my boyfriend had to sleep on the couch and I had to sleep on an air mattress on the floor. The next morning, the maintenance man replaced our carpets and I was finally able to move things into the bedroom. I cleaned the apartment to the best of my ability and noticed that the faucet on the sink is broken. It sprays off to one side. That night gave us some more trouble. My boyfriend went to hook in our washer and dryer (the apartment came with a washer and dryer however we have our own so we told them we’d just bring our own and I recognize that that contributed to the issue a bit) and while he was doing that, he noticed the main water line was busted. The water line broke off while he was trying to hook the hose up and sprayed water everywhere! Our laundry room and part of our kitchen flooded and water seeped into our main bathroom (it’s right by the laundry room). Some of our things got soaked. I called immediately and got someone out there to fix it. He told us that we were supposed to have the maintenance crew come set it up and not do it ourselves. We were never told that and never had that issue at any other apartment we’ve stayed at. We also had to shut off our water for the night otherwise our entire apartment would be flooded. We couldn’t Shower, use the bathroom, or brush our teeth that night. The maintenance staff has been wonderful I will admit. The maintenance guy said it was so bad that he had to buy a brand new part and come back three separate times today with a crew because there was something else wrong with it. He eventually got it fixed and set up my washer however he couldn’t set up my dryer because I need to buy a new cord for it. I need a three prong cord and my dryer is a four prong. Aside from all of that, the apartment is a dump. There are nicotine stains on the ceiling, walls, thermostat, and window blinds, the ceiling is cracking and chips off, there is dried paint drops everywhere, cracking along certain areas like by the tub, and the second bathroom looks like a prison bathroom. Overall this is a big contributor to my stress. I talked to the manager today and she switched up instantly. She went from being super friendly to rude in an instant after I asked her about lease termination. She said we can terminate our lease but we have by Friday to decide, anything after that would be a sublet situation. She also said if we terminate the lease, we’d get our rent refunded and I think a few other things refunded as well. She said that there is not other apartment available that we could switch into and that if we stayed, she will send out a professional cleaner and get new blinds. They did also fix my faucet luckily. That’s where I’m worried and need advice.
Option 1: stay
I could stay, let them fix the issues, and give this area a chance. I could try out that prestigious college and my boyfriend may eventually I find a new job. I myself may find a job. But we risk more things going wrong with the apartment, remaining unhappy in an area we don’t like, possibly him not finding a new job, and me being unhappy with stressed with the university.
Option 2: move out
We could void the lease, move, and stay in our camper on his family’s property for a bit until we get adjusted. He was offered a job that pays 35 an hour close to the original university I was going to go to (he currently makes 29 an hour now where we moved and was making 30 at his old job where we are from but this was the first place to offer him a job here so he took it) He didn’t accept it of course because we moved however they told him if anything changes, to call. So if they offer it back to him, he could take it. I can re-enroll in the original college however I am not sure if I would still get the same financial aid (they basically gave me a full ride as well with all my scholarships and financial aid packages). However, with this we risk going through another stressful and expensive move. We also risk having to stay in a camper with three animals again until we find an apartment. I risk the possibility of me regretting my decision about schools and asking what if (but also I do like the idea of being on a more laid back, smaller campus with less stress, academic challenge, and prestige. I’m just worried that I won’t get the same opportunities the more prestigious school is offering me).
Overall, I need advice. What do you think I should do? Which option should I go with? Is there a middle ground? I’m not sure how I feel about subleasing if that is the middle ground. Also I am already very familiar with the original university I was going to go to. Honestly I am kind of regretting even applying to the prestigious university and I am not even sure if it’s worth it anymore. I was excited at first but now I’m just sad and stressed.
Posted Jun 11, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC