We are looking at U of A for Fall 2024. Have seen some conflicting things about the safety of Tucson as a whole, and more specifically the areas around and on campus. Any information would be appreciated!
Tucson is a bit of a mixed bag. UA is about the same as any big university campus, safety wise. I wouldn’t move it up or down a college list based on safety concerns. My D and SIL are grad students at UA and I haven’t heard any particular concerns from them.
We lived in Tucson for many years before moving to the Phoenix area about 5 years ago. Once in awhile, there would be reports in the local news about a crime near campus…sometimes a robbery, sometimes a sexual assault. I would not consider it a frequent enough occurrence for me, as a parent, to be concerned enough to NOT have 1 of my kids attend college there (it’s in D24’s list).
That being said, one does need to have general situational awareness when out and about. For example, don’t walk home alone late at night…go with a friend.
By comparison, there’s no way I’d even consider having my kids attend USC, with all of its crime right next door to that school.
There was a shooting on campus at U of A earlier this month. If one reads the news reports about it, though, one can conclude that it was not some random thing but a very specific and targeted crime carried out by a former grad student who’d just been expelled from his PhD program and kicked out of his on campus grad student housing…because he was making physical threats against people on campus. Does that mean that this sort of thing happens frequently? Absolutely not.
Tucson’s overall crime rate does tend to be a little higher than other parts of the country but it’s property crime that’s higher instead of physical violence. I’d recommend staying away from some areas off of Prince Rd (in between Oracle Rd & the freeway) and the neighborhood around Mi Nidito (a Mexican restaurant that President Clinton went to once) after dark.
In terms of personal safety, your kid will be way safer in Tucson than San Francisco.
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My son has been there for three years. As has been said, it’s no different than any other campus. He feels totally safe there.