How Much Does It Cost to Move in New Orleans as a College Student?

Every August and May, our phone lines fill up with the same question: how much is this actually going to cost me? Between tight budgets, roommates splitting bills, and parents wanting a straight answer before they hand over a card, we get it. Here’s how Fast Affordable College Student Movers actually prices student moves around Tulane, Loyola, UNO, Xavier, and Dillard, without the runaround.

Dorm Move Rates: The Small-Load Job

Dorm moves are usually our fastest, cheapest jobs because the load is small: a mini fridge, a few totes, a lofted-bed frame, maybe a TV. We price most dorm moves as a flat local rate rather than a full hourly crew booking, since two movers and a box truck can usually clear a dorm room in under an hour once we’re on-site. Our dorm and apartment moving team, led by crew chief Katie Sonnier, runs this exact job dozens of times each move-in and move-out week.

• Single dorm room, no elevator hassle: lowest tier, typically our minimum local charge
• Dorm room with elevator wait or long carry to the truck: add roughly 30-45 minutes of labor time
• Shared load with a roommate (splitting one truck run): often cheaper per person than booking two separate trips

Off-Campus Apartment and House Rates

Once students move into the shotgun houses and doubles around Freret, Uptown, Mid-City, Broadmoor, and Carrollton, pricing shifts to standard hourly local moving rates based on crew size and truck time. A studio or one-bedroom typically needs two movers for a half-day. A three- or four-bedroom double split between roommates usually needs a three-person crew, which costs more per hour but finishes faster and often works out close in total price per roommate.

Narrow, permit-only streets near campus can add time too. If our truck can’t park directly in front of your place on Freret or Broadway, our crew has to hand-carry items farther, which our office factors into the estimate upfront rather than surprising you with it later.

What Drives Long-Distance Pricing Home for the Summer

A lot of students haul everything home to Houston, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, or Dallas rather than paying for storage. Long-distance pricing depends mainly on distance, total weight or cubic footage, and how flexible your pickup and delivery dates are. Our long-distance moving team, run by crew chief Jamal Broussard, quotes these jobs individually since a Houston run and a Nashville run aren’t priced the same.

“We tell students the same thing every May: book your long-distance slot as soon as finals week is on the calendar. The trucks fill up fast during the last two weeks of the semester.” — Marcus Guidry, Dispatch Lead

Common Add-On Costs

A few extras come up often enough that we’d rather explain them here than have them catch you off guard:

1. Packing help: our full-service packing crew can box up a whole room in the time it’d take you to pack three drawers. Priced separately from the move itself.
2. Summer storage: if you’re not hauling everything home, summer storage is billed monthly and is almost always cheaper than a long-distance round trip for a semester’s worth of stuff.
3. Specialty items: a piano or a gun safe in a fraternity house or off-campus rental needs extra hands and equipment, so we quote those separately.
4. Stairs and long carries: third-floor walk-ups near Tulane add labor time, which our office is upfront about when we quote.

How We Quote Budget-Conscious Student Jobs

Office manager Desiree Landry handles most of the phone and online quote requests, and her approach is simple: ask exactly what’s moving, where from, where to, and whether roommates are splitting the bill. That gets students an honest number fast instead of a vague range. We’d rather lose five minutes on the phone getting details right than have a crew show up to a bigger moving job than expected.

Why Two Students’ Moving Costs Can Look Different

We get this question a lot: why did my friend pay less for what sounds like the same move? Usually it comes down to a handful of small factors that add or subtract time from the job, not a different pricing structure.

• Parking distance: a legal spot right outside your door costs less crew time than a long carry from the nearest permit zone
• Stairs vs. elevator: walk-up units near Tulane and Loyola take longer than ground-floor or elevator buildings
• How ready you are: boxes packed and staged before the crew arrives moves faster than digging things out of drawers on the spot
• Time of month: booking during peak move-in or move-out week sometimes means less schedule flexibility than a mid-semester move

None of these turn a simple move into an expensive one, but they explain why our office asks detailed questions before quoting rather than giving a one-size number over text. A local moving job with easy parking and a first-floor unit will always run cheaper than one with three flights of stairs and a two-block carry, even if the furniture list looks identical on paper.

Getting Your Number

If you want a real number instead of a guess, reach out through our quote form and our office will call or email back same-day during move season. Tell us your building, your floor, and whether you’re splitting the moving costs with a roommate, and we’ll put together a number that actually matches your situation. You can also check what past students have said about pricing honesty on our reviews page, or read more about how our crew got started on the about page before you book.