college

Young Van Life Couple Chasing Waves and Dreams

by

Beach vibes and good times. Just another day in van life paradise? For Wes and Savana, van life is all about living affordably and fearlessly to create an ever-evolving, adventure-rich lifestyle. They are two financially savvy recent college grads and outdoor enthusiasts. While in college, Savana introduced the van life concept … Read more

Tengbom Micro Dorms

by

College and high school students are embracing the tiny house concept with gusto. One of the leading architecture firms in Sweden is right behind them with a series of affordable, portable micro dorms that are also environmentally friendly. The “10 smart square” dorms are only 107 square feet, but feature … Read more

Kie’s Tiny House

by

After following the various blogs about tiny houses for years, I finally decided to take the leap and begin constructing one of my own. As a 21 year old college student, this is not something that many other people my age are partaking in, but I felt that a tiny house would be the most cost effective way to live upon graduation and would give me the opportunity to pay off my debts from student loans as well as save some money as a nest egg for a rainy day.

I have always had an interest in construction, so my degree is going to be in construction management when I graduate this spring. For me, this was another reason a tiny house made perfect sense. In construction, you are generally assigned to a job and will work at it for a few years before moving on to the next job. The next job can be anywhere in the country. By having a mobile house, I am more able to adapt to wherever my job may lead me. This was very important to me because it would make very little sense to build a permanent structure when I may be leaving a place in a few short years.

Read more

Baggins End Domes

by

Baggins End, on the campus of the University of California, Davis is a small community of undergraduate and graduate students who live together in a bundle of round, white domes among several acres of community gardens, chicken coops, trees and flowers. Sounds idyllic, right? The students think so and are prepared to fight for their little slice of heaven. Recently, the university has determined that the domes are no longer safe for residential use and plan to shut down the Domes and Baggins End this summer.

The university’s student housing department said the Domes are not up to code, are not Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant, and not worth spending money on to salvage. Supporters of the Domes claim the university administration has neglected these issues for decades and is trying to make a land grab, motivated by budget cuts and pressure to squeeze every last dollar out of campus real estate.

Sacramento News & Review Article on Baggins End

Sacramento Public Radio Story on Baggins End

The Domes have been on the campus since 1972 and are constructed of three to four inches of polyurethane foam surrounded by a fiberglass shell. A few of the Domes are beginning to delaminate. Baggins End (named after the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) is comprised of 14 domes housing 28 students where they emphasize cooperation and sustainability. The students grow a lot of their own food and raise chickens and a rooster named Chamomile. The Domes are around 450 square feet and contain a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms or a sleeping loft, heating and skylights. The students are allowed to perform their own construction projects and have access to the community’s free materials yard, fire pit,  garden and tool shed, compost pile, greenhouse and the weekly potluck dinners. Each resident pays $2,712 for a year long lease.

Read more

A Tiny House for College Students

by

Nearly 85% of college graduates move back home after they finish school. George Hemminger, who runs the YouTube channel Survive and Thrive in the New Economy, has a small solution for these “boomerang kids”: build a tiny house.