My daughter starts her PhD at UW in the fall and we are not familar with the area. She needs to rent an apartment that is dog friendly. Can the people familar with Madison weigh in with which neighborhoods we should consider. She has a car and does not necessarily need to be close to campus. She said, however, that she wants to be able to take a bus to campus if she isn’t walking or biking. Any thoughts would be appeciated.
Your daughter is going for a PhD and cant figure this out on her own?
What field? STEM or humanities? It makes a difference in terms of which side of campus you would focus on – Sciences would look over on the side of campus near Camp Randall, to be walking distance to campus. If Humanities/Social Science, over towards State St and Langdon and the area south of that (Mifflin, Broome etc.) Both parts of town have many many 2-3 story homes which are converted into apartments. There are also many “high rise” apartment buildings – 6-10+ stories, and some may allow pets, but being in an elevator building may not be worth it. I would suggest not being too far away from campus, just because Madison is such a walkable city, there is no reason to head out towards suburbs etc. That being said, getting an apartment close in, with parking, can drive up the price, as parking is at a premium in Madison. The “high rises” will have underground parking spots to be rented, houses may or may not have designated spots and it could be street parking only. Again, but for stocking up at Costco or Target, a car isn’t very necessary. She would not want to think she is driving to campus, because on-campus parking is very very tight and hard to find.
A wonderful place to live – my UW son is going to miss Madison!
I live in Madison. Her biggest problem will be finding someplace that’s dog friendly. She may have to live away from the area immediately near campus to accommodate her dog. Most of Madison is pretty safe. The Monroe, Villas, Greenbush and Regent neighborhoods are good to the west and near south of campus. The Capitol, Tenney, Marquette and Atwood neighborhoods are nice to the east and near north of campus.
Is she looking to share a place? My friend rents out dog-friendly rooms in her home and she advertises on Craigslist.
What is her budget and how many pounds is the dog?
She should be checking with her department. Also on the UW-Madison site she should go to the off campus housing site. There she can put in various filters, including having a dog. Wise to not try to pay for campus parking- limited and expensive, plus not likely close to her building.
So many great areas to live in near campus.
Just checking back in. In answers to several question, her PhD will be in the Humanities. She has not decided on sharing or not. She would like a one bedroom and would be willing to go up to $1400 plus parking and fees for her dog. Her dog is quite small and only is about 12 pounds.She doesn’t plan on driving to campus but rather intends to walk, bike or use public transportaion. She does want parking at residence, however. wis75 - thanks for the recommendation of teh off-campus housing site.
When does she need the lease to start?
Try these (not sure about pets) all are newer or newly constructed by Summer 2017:
- 2505 University Avenue - Lindholm Properties
- 2550 University Avenue
- 2585 University Avenue (Kingston Corners) - Gold Leaf Development
- 2715 Marshall Court - Arbor Crossing
- The Boulevard Apartments at 3326 University Avenue (Flad Development) - across from Whole Foods
- The Lodge at Walnut Grove and The Lodge II at 4200 University Avenue (Flad Development) - across from Target, Metcalf's grocery store and Hilldale Shopping Center
Students are eligible for a free City of Madison bus pass.
The off campus housing site should answer many questions. They keep revising the format but my brief check had options including dogs. I’m sure there will be options for other parameters.
If she’s in the Humanities, she’ll want to be in the southeast area of campus or nearby off-campus environs. The Humanities building itself is on Park Street, between University and Langdon, and essentially across the street from Bascom Hill. Library Mall, the Union, and one end of State Street are very close by – it’s a hopping spot.
If you rent the '80s Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School, you’ll see the pedestrian bridge that links Humanities to Bascom Hill.
@prezbucky, the pedestrian bridge was demolished in August of 2015 :(.
Madison has a lot of bike paths and a good public bus system. My neighbors bike to work and school year round (!) right through the ice and snow. Most neighborhoods have easy to find street parking, so parking places are usually not offered. She won’t have to worry about paying for a parking place unless she lives very close to the university or the capitol.
Most leases start on August 15th, but some start on August 1 and very few on September 1.
The pedestrian bridge over Park Street connecting Humanities to Bascom Hill was not destroyed in 2015. I saw it Sunday. @rbc1999
A PhD student with $1400/month + parking budget, a car and a dog may want to live just off campus on University near/in Shorewood (a variety of lease start dates, pleasant biking/walking path) rather than closer to where noisy undergrads live with those Aug 15 lease dates.
They discontinued the wonderful search site of years ago. But- Googling housing near the UW campus brings up several sites. One site worth looking at is the “Utterly Unofficial Housing Guide” from the UW Law school. Many tips on how to search et al.
Her budget is generous when I saw a brief pricing list. Having fun looking. She will need to determine if she wants furnished/unfurnished and utilities included or not. Madison Gas and Electric should still have a way of finding out average utility costs for apartments. Of course they will vary based on previous occupants habits.
There is a Madison Tenants Union to check out as well. A lot of useful Madison specific info easily available- if I can find it she can. I’ll bet her department will be useful.
@Madison85, you are absolutely right! I was having a brain cloud and the bridge I was thinking of was that was removed was the one over University Ave.
This thread has some good info. Good luck with graduate school.