I’ve lived in Boulder since 1991. I came for grad school and stayed. I consider Boulder quite safe, but you must be aware, as you would be any place. I wouldn’t go on the bike path after dark. I wouldn’t walk alone on campus in unlit areas. I wouldn’t leave my bike unlocked.
But I have been on Pearl Street at 3 AM and felt safe walking a block to my parked car. It’s a well-lit area.
As for parties, I would say that students need to use the usual precautions. Don’t drink too much. Be wary of accepting drinks from strangers. Maybe don’t go home with people you don’t know. The same rules that have applied at least as far back as the 1960s (when I was an undergrad at the University of Denver).
CU is a big school in a small, affluent town. It’s safer than other big schools because Boulder doesn’t have a lot of serious crime. Most of the town is upscale residential.
As for housing, yes it is expensive. Most students who don’t live in campus share off campus accommodations to keep rent more reasonable. When my daughter was a student and had trouble finding a place to live, I bought a condo and then sold it after she graduated. I made money. I’m sorry I didn’t hang on to it. It would have been a good investment.
CU Boulder is not a bargain for out of state students. It is a pretty good deal for local kids who can continue to live at home.
Boulder is short on affordable housing for many people, not just students. The community hasn’t quite figured out how to deal with that.
More national companies are expanding here — Google, Amazon, Apple — so a student who hopes to land a job at one of them or one of the research centers or defense contractors in the area might start thinking about where to live after graduation. Maybe in one of the nearby communities. I just got a flyer about a new development in Longmont where you can buy a house for about $1400 a month. It’s probably quite far east of Boulder, but for someone planning to stay, it might be a housing option.
Housing is expensive in the entire Denver metro area. It’s not just a Boulder issue.
CU doesn’t recognize the national fraternities, so no, it won’t work with them to shut down. the bad houses. They are not student groups so the university has no control over them. It is no different than if CU students wanted to join a church group off campus (the Moonies, Hari Krishna), or the boy scouts, or the girl scouts. The off campus frats are private groups. There are now 3 recognized frats, but they don’t have houses, and I doubt they will because the requirements for having a house are pretty strict (no alcohol, house mother living in, and about 9 others).
How Harvard ‘closed’ the entirely off campus groups was to restrict on-campus activities to members of those groups. Sorority, fraternity, or members of other single sexed groups could not hold leadership positions on campus like captain of a sports team, editor of the school paper, president of an engineering society. Since many members of the single sexed groups needed those on-campus leadership position and letters of recommendations for Rhodes scholarships and medical school, the groups couldn’t attract new members and closed. Harvard did not ban students from joining or have the meeting spaces physically closed. EXCEPT, the 4 sororities and 3 fraternities, plus individual students are now suing Harvard in state and federal court (ironically, for Title IX violations among other things, and 2nd Amendment rights to associate). Harvard students can join the KKK without penalty as it is a co-ed group, but not the Knights of Columbus or a sorority. A member of a religious order technically should not get any scholarship recommendations at Harvard, so too bad to you Jesuit priests or nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor, we can’t have the likes of you leading any clubs at Harvard.
I think the students at Harvard will win the suit, but I never understood why Harvard wanted to control the social lives of its students anyway.
Actually, CU has 11 recognized fraternities, according to https://www.colorado.edu/greeks/our-community (8 are listed under “Multicultural Greek Life” and 3 are listed under “Fraternity Life”).
The unrecognized “IFC on the hill” has 20 fraternities. There are 2 other unrecognized fraternities that were expelled from the latter organization.
My daughter is interviewing for the Leeds Scholar program, which includes housing in a “living and learning community”, etc, etc. Do the kids who ultimately receive these awards get housing beyond freshman year ( since the living situation is part of the award?)
Agree - incorrect facts re: California requiring 10 AP’s. In fact, UC’s only allow 8 SEMESTERS of AP’s to be counted in the re-calculation of their weighted GPA.
I think she may be referring to UC Santa Barbara - HUGE party school. UC San Diego - is not.