Housing

Please visit the Student Services Website at: www.miis.edu/student-life/housing for information about local hotels and temporary accommodations, tips for lease agreement negotiation, contact information for local utility companies and other housing resources, such as web links to local property management companies and on-line housing databases.

The Monterey Institute does not have on-campus housing or dormitories available for students. This can cause some dismay for Summer Intensive Language Program (SILP) participants, but not to worry! There are several options available for summer housing.

• Option 1: Summer sublet

Many of the Master’s degree candidates spend their summers traveling, completing internships, or working for organizations related to their program and sublet their apartments or rooms during that time.

• Option 2: MIIS Housing Website

The Monterey Institute now maintains an Off-Campus housing website for all of its enrolled students.  There are many local property owners who list their apartments, studios, and rooms-for-rent with the Institute. Due to the nature of housing at MIIS and the landlords’ familiarity with the flow of our student body there is typically a good assortment of short-term rentals available in the summer.

• Option 3: Hotel Accommodations

Another option for summer students is to arrange hotel accommodations for the duration of your stay in Monterey. There is a list of hotels that have accommodated MIIS students during the summer months with special rates for extended stays available on the website. Some good hotels/inns to start with are the Vagabond Inn, Howard Johnson Express,  and El Adobe Inn.  Please see the website for the complete list.

Many students do not have cars, so if you are hoping to find housing within walking distance of campus, you certainly could conduct your search without a car.  However, a rental car would certainly make the process a bit easier and quicker.  So, if your budget allows for renting a car for a few days, it is a good option.  We do have students that opt to live further away and those areas require willingness to walk a longer distance, ride a bike (a recreation/bike trail stretches for miles along the waterfront), take public transportation, or have a car. Monterey has a bus system, but it does not run as frequently as in a large metropolitan area; buses come every 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours and every 20 to 30 during non-peak hours. 

Most of our summer students are able to find sublets or reasonably priced rooms for rent during the summer, while a few people elect to stay in a hotel for the entire summer. On average a SILP student should expect to pay $900 to $1,000 per month on housing. Don’t forget to include the cost of food in your travel expenses. Students should expect to pay on average $100.00 a week for groceries not including extras like eating out.

Housing costs vary considerably; some approximate costs are listed on the next page.  The housing prices do not include telephone or cable television expenses, and may or may not include utilities. Most monthly rental fees do include garbage, sewer and water; some include gas and electricity as well.

Housing accommodations include rooms in private homes, apartments or houses shared with other students, studio apartments with one all-purpose room, and private apartments with one or more bedrooms. Both furnished and unfurnished housing is available.

The Office of Student Services provides a rental listing service only, not a placement service. While we cannot arrange housing for you, we can provide you with suggestions, support, and access to the MIIS Housing Website with information on available area rentals. Staff members will orient you to the service and to the various communities on the Monterey Peninsula and may be able to introduce you to other students who are looking for roommates. However, finding housing will be your responsibility.

We suggest that you make hotel, motel or youth hostel reservations for up to five nights after your arrival, as the majority of students typically find housing within five to seven days. Because Monterey is a tourist destination, motels and hotels are generally more expensive on Friday and Saturday nights, so we recommend that you arrive as early in the week as possible.  Please visit the temporary accommodation listings on the Monterey Institute website.  If you continue to have difficulties locating temporary housing please contact the Office of Student Services for help and suggestions at student.services@miis.edu or by phone at 831-647-4128

Not many SILP students bring their families or pets with them for summer study. However, if you do choose to bring your family or pets keep in mind that Monterey landlords, like landlords elsewhere, are less open to accommodating children and pets, and many prefer not to rent to smokers. You should allow extra time and money in these cases

Many of the SILP students room with current MIIS students or with their SILP classmates. Student Services makes it easy for you to connect with other students in order to find a roommate. The MIIS Housing Website has a built in roommate finder that will allow to create a profile, similar to a Facebook profile, that will then allow you to search for a roommate. We also maintain a Facebook group for all incoming students, to which you will receive a link to join once you have been accepted into the program.

The MIIS Housing Website is the newest service offered by the Office of Student Services to help all MIIS students locate and secure housing. The new online system makes it easier than ever to search for housing listings, contact landlords or student sublets, and decide where you will be living during your summer in Monterey. Once you have been accepted into the SILP program the Office of Student Services will send you information on how you can access the housing website and create a profile that will allow you to search all of the available listings.

We suggest that you arrive a week to ten days before the start of the SILP program so that you can find housing and get settled before your summer schedule of classes begin. If you will not have a car and/or would like to be within walking distance of the campus, you may wish to arrive earlier as the rentals closest to campus are typically gone the quickest!  On the other hand, if you come to Monterey too far in advance of when you actually plan to move in, landlords—in almost every instance—will want you to begin paying rent at the time you sign your lease, rather than when you return to actually move in.