Potential ESA

[Bogertophis]

BTW, if you've always lived "at home", I would also caution you that it's hard enough to find a place to rent that allows pets these days, without being in college. Many (most) landlords will not be enthused about renting to a college student with pets, because they know you'll be busy & pets left alone too much tend to get in trouble. Also, college students are often tight on funds, & keeping a dog or cat free of fleas & healthy costs money. They can easily spread fleas throughout the whole building, which then requires fumigation (expensive for landlord & inconvenience+ for fellow residents). When I was in college, that actually happened- someone had a pet cat (that was against the rules) in another apartment in the building, & the next thing you know, our carpet & the carpet in every other apt. in the whole building was jumping with fleas, no kidding. There are reasons for the rules- & some have ruined it for others, sadly.

Landlords may personally love animals, but you have to realize they get "burned" all the time for trusting people, & not just about pets. So before you get your mind set on a pet- think hard about this & research where you'd be able to live (affordably) with one- & that's ANY kind of pet. And expect to pay more for cleaning & damage deposits. I'm not sure that any "dorms" allow pets either (ESA or not), so I assume you're talking about non-campus apartments? Some "may?" allow "cage pets"- like fish, but not likely dogs or cats. (I can tell you that you sure wouldn't be having pets in the military either- that just doesn't work.)

Also, if you're planning to share an apartment with other students, that will rule out many roommates- not everyone loves animals or will love yours- they may be allergic, or irresponsible (& let your pet loose or endanger your pet in many other ways, intentional or not).