<p>I attended Columbia undergrad and grad in Morningside Heights and have a daughter who is a freshman at Penn this year and can honestly say that theseareas seem comparable to me...Morningside Heights is fine and the Penn area isn't that bad and is improving rapidly, for example, a project to build luxury rental apartments adjacent to Penn's campus is now starting construction...I would strongly suggest that you visit them yourself and draw your own conclusions rather than relying on hearsay...Penn just purchased an additional 30 acres of land adjacent to their campus from the U.S. Postal Service so things there can only continue to improve...</p>