A lower income/first gen advisee of mine is going to attend Bakersfield College from quite a distance away. What should she know?
It is a community college that mostly serves students from the local area. You can use this tool to learn the student profile, transfer success rates and a LOT more:
http://scorecard.cccco.edu/scorecard.aspx
Has she ever been to Bakersfield?
No, she’s not but I described it to her (in stark terms). However it seems to be her best solution as of now due to family reasons. (She can’t ‘live at home and commute’ and rent pretty much anywhere on the coast is too much for an 18 year old.)
Thanks for the link, I’ll pass it on.
Are there things about Bakersfield you care to share beside the information I could glean online?
My brother and his family live in Bakersfield.
It is a large farming and oil community (there are derricks everywhere). The people that we’ve met have been extremely friendly. The cost of living is a lot less than the major areas of California. They get a huge number of visitors because it is the last major stop before getting into then highways for:
WEST: San Francisco and coastal towns
EAST: the Sierra’s (Sequoia/Yosemite), or Vegas
NORTH: Sacramento
SOUTH: LA and San Diego.
It gets extremely hot and extremely cold temperatures.
The air pollution does get really bad during hot days with a mixture of pesticides and oil residues.
The grocery stores have exceptionally GOOD produce: fruits and vegetables are phenomenal.
What other kinds of info do you need?
They have a Costco!!
It is not what most people think of when they envision California. In may ways, it is more like Oklahoma or parts of Texas. Ag and Oil rule the local economy.
There are worse places you could be - the cost of living is low, jobs are pretty plentiful. It sounds like the perfect place for her to kick off her college career - then transfer to CSU Bakersfield for her BS/BA.
If she is OOS - she should know she won’t get CA residency as a student…
Thank you so much!
No, she’s not looking at getting CA residency, just what seems like the cheapest area for rent while she can start her college career.
Excellent about the fresh fruit and vegetables. Also good about lots of jobs (for part-time work).
What do you mean by “extremely hot/cold”? (I’ll look it up too).
Are the neighborhoods near the college, especially within walking distance, safe? Are there any unsafe areas/areas to avoid as a single woman?
Re the hot and cold temps:
My brother did not add a heating system to his pool. He didn’t need it, he claims, because it gets hot enough to heat the water during the day.
Re the cold temps: My brother’s trees and vegetation often die in the winter because it gets too cold for some of the greens. So he goes to Home Depot every Spring to try to redo his landscaping that will support heat and cold. Its been a lot of desert plants lately.
There are Walmarts, Targets, a Costco, lots of family entertainment and river activities.
105 won’t be uncommon in the summer months. As for the cold - there’s no snow and few hard freezes most years. The fog can linger down there for weeks at a time - which makes things damp and cool.
Thank you so much, it’s very useful.
Are air-conditioning units par for the course even in lower rent student apartments?
AC is pretty much a given up and down the central valley.
Yep, AC is standard and do they use it! All day and night!
We would often freeze at night in their hotels, because some AC units, you can’t budge, although the summer night temps would be in the 90’s outside!
Please be advised that the area is not much to look at. The town has been lacking water for 7 years. From LA, coming down the grapevine, you’ll see the valley, but there’s no “AHA” moment or view. It looks like a desert town with irrigated farms. The 99 highway goes through the center, the I-5 bypasses west of the town.
Good luck to your advisee!
Oh, and Save Mart is the major food chain there and in other parts of the Central Valley.