Off-campus Living
KCAI is located in an older residential neighborhood called Southmoreland. It is tree-lined with many large homes and many six-plex style apartment buildings from the 1920s. While Southmoreland is convenient for student renters, the student needs to take time and ask questions before signing a rental agreement. There are good apartments and there are ones to avoid. Kansas City Art Institute wants you to have a living experience that supports your life as a student. We want you to move in with confidence. Your living situation should not distract you from your academic pursuits. No matter where you live, you must play an active role in your personal safety, and in fulfilling your responsibilities as a renter. We encourage you to use this guide as a resource to ensure you find a place that is right for you.
About 40% of the KCAI student body lives in Southmoreland. When looking in newspaper listings for apartments/houses to rent near KCAI, there are specific areas to look for. Two major art museums are located on either side of the campus; therefore the Art Institute neighborhood is often referred to as the art gallery area. Other nearby neighborhoods within a 1-1/2 mile radius of KCAI are listed as follows: PLAZA/BRUSH CREEK, WEST PLAZA/STATE LINE, ROANOKE, WESTPORT, VALENTINE, UMKC/ROCKHURST area. Some of our students who have transportation live in the following neighborhoods which are about 3-5 miles from the campus: Brookside, Shawnee Mission, Union Hill, River Market area, West Bottoms, and Hyde Park. The Academic/Student Life office offers a free taxi service to KCAI students who live within a 2-3 mile radius of the college. Students can use this service to get home from studio at night. The taxi runs 3 times a night, Sunday-Thursday 10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. On Fridays it makes one run at midnight.
Beginning your search
About a month before you're ready to move to Kansas City, we strongly recommend you plan a 2-5 day visit to look for housing (PDF). We suggest you plan on moving to KC at least 2 weeks before classes start to give you time to settle in before the semester begins. (In the summer, usually July is the best time to look, especially mid-July, but you have to move fast because that's when a lot of college students in the Kansas City area start returning).
It is best to do a lot of the legwork over the phone before you arrive in KC. Set up as many appointments as possible with property managers (PDF) so that you can make the best use of your limited time during your search. Allow yourself several days to contact property managers/realtors. Often times you will get answering machines, but don't let this discourage you. Leave your name and phone number, and be sure to mention that you are a student at the Art Institute. Leave specific times letting them know when they can call you back. Remember, if you are planning to do your search on a weekend, you must contact the apartment managers prior to your visit because their offices are closed on the weekends. However, they can usually arrange to have someone meet you. Managers usually know about 30 days in advance what they will have available. Often times they cannot predict what they will have available if you are inquiring too early. So attempting to rent a place in May or June for the fall semester may be pointless unless you are prepared to pay rent throughout the summer. Apartment managers typically will NOT reserve apartments for anyone. Although it can be understandably difficult for you to make a special trip to Kansas City to find an apartment, we strongly advise that you do not just show up right before the beginning of the semester without anywhere to live. If you're coming from a long distance and are unable to plan your living arrangements in advance, we suggest you plan on having a roommate. Many KCAI students share apartments or houses for safety and financial reasons. This is an ideal arrangement for someone not familiar with KC who is arriving in late August. People who arrive late and plan to live alone have a difficult time finding a place, and it can get quite expensive when you have fewer options.