<p>For a grad student living on campus, how easy/how necessary would it be to own a car?</p>
<p>Looks like huge pain in the butt to me from what I’ve seen of the streets of Providence.</p>
<p>Living on campus? Do you intend to be on meal plan? Being off-meal plan makes the car thing more important since grocery shopping is pretty challenging without a car, although I believe that it will be easy to find a friend to go food shopping with.</p>
<p>Brown stopped offering parking to undergraduates, so we may not offer any parking to on campus graduate students either.</p>
<p>Living on campus, btw, is more expensive than off.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments guys. I guess having the car would be more so for weekend day trips into Boston, and for monthly commutes back home to Long Island, more so than for day-to-day trips to class. </p>
<p>Do all students generally reside either on campus or in central Providence, or do any move into the suburbs?</p>
<p>There is a suburban area intertwined with campus for about 1/2 mile in any direction that many seniors and graduate students live in. Anywhere listed as being on the “Eastside” is fair game, and I would say the borders of student area are probably:
[Google</a> Maps](<a href=“Google Maps”>Google Maps)</p>
<p>Olney to the North, Gano to the East, Wickenden to the South, Benefit to the West.</p>
<p>Boston is cheaper and easier to go by train for about $8 each way, takes about an hour. Basically, would you take the LIRR into NYC or drive? We’re about a mile from the commuter rail station.</p>
<p>Very few graduate students (maybe 100 of the 1400, and most international students who wouldn’t have time to find housing) live on campus.</p>
<p>If you’re going to be taking trips outside of pvd frequently, a car is definitely useful, although personally I think driving in Boston is terrible and taking the commuter rail is easier. As far as parking goes, it’s not hard to find one to rent. It can get pricey, but I think it’s probably cheaper than getting a parking spot through Brown. Look on craigslist for an idea of a price range. Parking on campus is not as bad as it looks. I’m lazy so I drive to class a lot, and I’m never driving around for extended periods of time looking for a spot. It can be a pain though if you forget to move your car before the time limit expires, because those parking tickets rack up fast.</p>
<p>can grad students even get meal plans? I’ve never seen a grad student (older looking student) eating anywhere on campus minus the RUE’s who are on meal plan.</p>
<p>grad students can be on meal plan.</p>
<p>Also, you should know there are Zip Cars on the Brown campus, very handy for longer road trips!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t really bring a car unless I had to…</p>
<p>Parking is not so easy to come by.</p>
<p>As an undergraduate I agree with Amadeuic, as a graduate student I think it’s very helpful. Either bring a car or live with someone who has one.</p>
<p>Most of the grad students I know have a car. You can get cheaper rent farther from campus. Okay, maybe not cheaper but you get a newer/bigger place.</p>