These are universal truths that every Harvard graduate student knows: Apartments in Cambridge are few and far between. Reasonably-priced apartments are even rarer. And apartments with dorm crew don't exist.

So those lucky few at the Business School (HBS) and the Law School (HLS) who don't have to fight the apartment-hungry crowds at Harvard Planning and Real Estate gladly opt for on-campus housing.

They get all the convenience of their undergraduate dormitories without the hassles of an off-campus apartment.

”I have my own bathroom, heat, water, and air conditioning," says second-year HBS student and Morris Hall resident Kathleen H. Gasuad. "They come and clean, take out my garbage... It's a Pretty good deal".

Most students say that cost and convenience play the biggest roles in their decision to live in student housing.

A first-year law student living in Wyeth Hall agrees, saying he chose to live in residence because it's "cheap, furnished, and convenient".

The convenience in a huge factor," Gasuad says. "Everything's right here".

Some, like first-year Law School student Alison J. Reed, say they ended up in student housing because they had no time to apartment hunt before coming to school.

"I'm from California and I was working up until the last minute," Reed says. "I couldn't come out here over the summer and look for other places to live".

Students also say the social atmosphere also made the dorms desirable.

My friends from last year are living on campus," says Randi S. Reich, a second-year at HBS. "I have the feeling it my friends had decided to move off campus, I would have as well".

Matthew C. Bate, a first-year Law School student, says the social aspect h as made his experience much more enjoyable. "There's a camaraderie that you don't get in an apartment," he says.

From Spartan to Stately

Almost 40 percent of the 1,800 Law School students live in dorms on campus. According to John S. Sarno, Director of building operations at the Law School, most of the residents and first-years.

"The 1L's are given a high percentage of rooms", Sarno says. "Many second and third-year students choose to live off campus, although some of them certainly return".