As a note of disclosure these stories were submitted by current and former tenants. The views of these apartment complexes reflect those of the tenant and not the Nevada Sagebrush as a whole.

Look—we all hated the dorms, but were they luxurious compared to what affordable options Reno has for us broke, depressed and desperate college students? 

We present: 

• The Highlands 
• The Republic 
• The Younion 
• College Terrace 
• The Villager 
• Identity 

You know what could go wrong? You find a place close to campus and it’s somewhat affordable, but you might be paying more for what you bargained for. 

Here are some of the horror stories of student apartments. 

These were stories submitted to us, and is in no way meant to sway anyone from living in these properties. Readers simply told us some of the “horrors” they faced. 

Highlands: The Hole  

When you think of home, you want a whole, comforting and welcoming dwelling. You don’t expect a hole in the middle of your roof—but that is exactly what former Highlands Apartments resident Olivia Ali received—A Hole In Her Roof. 

Ali had noticed a divot in her roof and upon further inspection she noticed water was the culprit. She put in a maintenance request to management thinking they would fix it and she could get on with dwelling there.

Turns out the next morning, without warning, she had two strange people in her apartment trying to “solve” the issue. The woman in the room decided it would be appropriate to poke the water filled divot with a stick. 

You can guess what happened. The hole exploded, leaving water and drywall all over Ali’s floor. 

Any landlord at this moment would think to fix it immediately, but Ali had to wait over three months for management to fill the hole.

Ali expressed she felt ignored by management and lied to. 

The Republic: Mold, gnats 

Former UNR student Brian Zuhl had the swarm of a lifetime while living in the Republic.

“There was never a time when there weren’t a few gnats flying around somewhere in my room,” Zuhl told The Nevada Sagebrush. “I’d always have something ready to swat them nearby.  By this point, I have gnats everywhere, maybe a few hundred on the windowsill. Around the same time I had also noticed that the ground in my bathroom was always wet. I didn’t think it was anything and chalked it up to me just getting out of the shower too soon. After living with this for maybe a month, I started to get tired of it and went to check out what was going on. I started feeling the ground to see what it was, and as I pressed down on one of the floorboards, water squeezed out of it. At this point, I decided it was time to send in a service request. Once they came in and took a look at it, they found that there was water leaking in my walls which had caused mold to grow all throughout and gnats had infested my walls. The Republic said that me and my roommates were going to be forced out of the apartment and they sent us to live in a different apartment while they fixed it.”

The Younion: Safety

During the summer of 2019, Jayda Wright was living in the Younion and had an issue with her front door fob. It would not register and she could not lock or unlock her door. She notified maintenance of the issue, but it took a week for them to come and fix it. 

About a month later, it stopped working again. This time, after some pushing from the parents of the other tenants, they changed the front door to a regular lock with a key. 

After two weeks, Wright asked a maintenance worker when the lock would be switched back. They told her she was not the only one with this problem, and that she needed to stop complaining about it because it was going to get fixed.

College Terrace: Not a safe space 

*Names have been omitted for the source’s safety* 

A former tenant had chosen to live in College Terrace because of how close it was to campus and the affordability. She moved in with friends thinking it would be a great experience, but she said her experience was far from welcoming. 

One of her roommates is Muslim and wore a hijab, and due to her identity, the source said, the maintenance man would say slurs behind her back. 

Our source remembers hearing on four separate occasions the maintenance man referring to her friend as “towelhead” and asked if she still lived there.  

Despite bringing the situation up to management, nothing was changed. 

“He’s a pretty aggressive guy, and I was scared of him,” our source said. 

Additionally, the maintenance man would show up unannounced when work orders were filed. 

The Villager: Ducks 

Some of these student apartments have multiple amenities, ranging from a gym to a pool, but none compare to the family of ducks at The Villager. 

In a way, The Villager had their quacks. 

According to former tenant Jayme Sileo, the management practically provided the habitat for said waddlers.  

The ducks lived in the complex’s pool—and as all animals do—defecated in said habitat. According to Sileo, maintenance would drain the pool and clean up the mess, but the ducks would only return. It became their home. 

The way management ultimately solved the problem was to stop cleaning the pool. 

Not only was there a mini petting zoo, but to get rid of said flock, maintenance was just neglected even after they left.   

Identity: $$$

It is too expensive… 

Andrew Mendez and Madeleine Chinery can be reached at andrewmendez@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.