Together, local colleges offer several thousand spaces in a variety of options and prices. Some also have fraternity or sorority houses that rent out rooms over the summer. Some out-of-state schools, such as Boston University, also have Washington semester programs in buildings that provide dorm spaces.
Georgetown University, however, has 500 fewer spaces this year because of dorm renovations, and has restricted the 400 available spots to its own students. The slots, which run about $1,000 a month, have all been filled.
George Washington still had openings this week, with rates that ranged from $196 to $252 per week per person, but they were filling fast, according to Seth Weinshel, director of summer and conference housing. The university has a five-week minimum stay.
About 2,500 students had already signed up by the third week of May, compared with 2,200 total for the summer of 2003. The school has about 2,800 beds for interns.
George Washington's average rates "have gone up a little bit" compared with 2003, said Weinshel, but the bottom and top rates stayed the same.
American University's rates are 5 percent higher than a year ago, said Julie Weber, head of residential life and housing services. Its Bethesda housing runs $250 a week.
Housing is also available through programs specifically set up for interns.
The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars is renting space in nine buildings this summer for its students, compared with five properties a year ago.
Because the rents those buildings charge are about 6 to 9 percent higher this summer, the center has raised its fees to $2,700 for three months of housing, said Mike Smith, executive vice president. But about 80 percent of center participants get substantial stipends or scholarships from corporations or foundations to offset the cost, Smith said.
The center's summer session of 550 students is its largest ever, Smith said. A year ago it placed and housed about 460 students.
"Most people coming to Washington spend between $700 and $900 a month for housing," said Linda Bayer, director of the Washington Internship Program, a 20-year-old program that has 200 students this summer, compared with 150 last year.
Washington Intern Student Housing, which has been leasing properties on Capitol Hill since 1995, filled its 350 spaces by May 21 , said general manager Mark Cail.
While searching by price is important to students, Bayer and other intern and housing coordinators warn that people need to be wary if they pursue housing with private parties via the Internet or other long-distance means.
Bayer recalls an intern who came to Washington recently from Tennessee "with his family, complete with a dog, and ended up in a place where they couldn't live, it was completely unsafe." The intern "was so distraught that I rented him a room in my house," Bayer said.
