College years can stretch into graduate school and possibly a medical residency.

All told, 10 years of higher education could be in the offing -- and just as many years of housing costs.

When choosing a college, it's important to know housing costs, said Wayne Johnson, president of Coldwell Banker Johnson & Thomas in Richmond.

Some parents buy houses or condos for their children and rent rooms to other students to help pay mortgages. "It's becoming more and more prevalent, especially for students in medical or law schools," Johnson said.

Margarita Valentin of Springfield bought a condo for her daughter, Alex, in Eagle Mill Towers off Marshall Street. "We were wasting money on rent. This is an investment. We'll either sell it or rent it after Alex graduates."

Alex, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, had rented a tiny one-bedroom, one-bath apartment with another student. Each paid $400 a month.

The condo was $210,000, more expensive than her mother said she wanted to spend. But Alex doesn't have a car, so the condo had to be near campus and a grocery store.

She shares the condo with a fellow student, two pet rats and two ferrets.

Alex, whose major is theater, has her own bedroom and bath. Posters of Johnny Depp cover the walls in her room. DeAnna Mays, her roommate, pays $550 a month to help pay the mortgage.

The décor in Mays' room is black and hot pink. But it was hard to discern in a jumble of clothes.

The kitchen has stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops.

The condo is a much better place to live, Alex said. Plus, it's not easy to find a place to rent, she said.

Condos start in the $160,000s at Eagle Mill Towers, where the first residents are still moving in, and in the $180,000s at the soon-to-open Iron Horse Place on West Broad Street.

"The Richmond condo market is very hot," said Tonya Whitten, an agent with Long & Foster.

Six units in the two buildings -- Eagle Mill Towers and Iron Horse Place -- have sold in the past couple of weeks, not just to parents of VCU students, but to young professionals, Whitten said.

VCU spokeswoman Pam Lepley said an estimated 6,000 students live in private housing in neighborhoods immediately surrounding the campus.

Only about 5,000 of a total 32,000 students live on campus, she said.

Unlike VCU, which doesn't have enough housing, the University of Richmond discourages off-campus living, college spokesman Brian Eckert said.

"We want students to live on campus to foster participation in the college community," he said.

About 95 percent of UR students live on campus, Eckert said. The cost for a double room is $3,230 a year.

About 700 of VUU's 12,000 students live on campus. The annual residence hall fee is $2,824.

At VCU, dormitory housing is about $4,500 a year, or a total of $45,000 if one goes to undergraduate and graduate school for 10 years. That could be a down payment on a house.