<p>I am wondering where current first year students are planning to live next year as sophomores? My son has signed up for Poly Canyon as a possibility, but I wondered what others were doing? I would prefer he stayed on campus one more year, but want to remain open minded if he choses soemthing elase.</p>
<p>Any advice from students(or parents of) who have lived off campus or at PCV would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Momofmv, my soph S is also planning on moving to Poly Canyon. Really, what is the difference besides the price? I haven’t yet spoken to him about that. I do know it’s farther from campus and he doesn’t plan to bring his car.</p>
<p>Hey parents, I’m a first year and have applied to live at PCV. For me, living on campus but with a full apartment will save me and my parents much time and stress running around town trying to find a decent house to rent. According to my dad who has experience in real estate renting/loaning says living on campus is about the same as living offcampus with the simplicity of one cost and bundled utilities. And I don’t find PCV too far away from campus, it’s like an extra 5 minute walk but I don’t mind. I have heard from an upperclassmen at PCV that they are planning to establish a movie rental store and a bike fixing shop at PCV in the upcoming year.</p>
<p>Momofmv, my daugher, like your son, is in Cerro Vista this year. She and her four roommates are all signing up for Poly Canyon for their sophmore years.</p>
<p>My daughter also applied to PCV, although she had said something about her three good friends from her Tower wanting to rent a house off campus. I’m really hoping they’ll change their minds and share an apartment at PCV with my daughter. Then they can live together off campus their junior and senior years. I really like the all-inclusive features and amenities of PCV. Not to mention, it’s on campus. I also like their theme “The Bridge”. It’s an excellent way to transition to renting off campus the following year.</p>
<p>Both my sons lived n PCV their sophomore year (son #2 lives there now), and they seemed happy there. Both want(ed) to go off campus by junior year. The advantages of PCV are:
<p>The only disadvantages I can think of:
<p>From our experience with renting a house:
<p>My son is also wanting to move off campus with his roommates from Cerro Vista next year. Anyone know how they go about looking for a house? In looking now, the rentals available are for right now…when do you find ones available for summer or Sept leases? It would be nice to know well in advanced that he has a place before Sept 2011. As other parents here, I’d prefer PCV.</p>
<p>I think my son and his friends found their houses on Craigslist or through a property management company usually in May. We started paying rent in June.</p>
<p>You might want to go ahead and put down a deposit for PCV as a back up, and see if your son’s friends would do the same. It is refundable, I’m pretty sure (you would want to verify this). Then, there is a chance your son and his friends might be less motivated to go to all the trouble of finding a house, since they already have secured an easy alternative at PCV.</p>
<p>Here’s some information about off-campus housing that may be of some help:
[University</a> Housing - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://housing.calpoly.edu/off_camp_listings.cfm]University”>http://housing.calpoly.edu/off_camp_listings.cfm)</p>
<p>My son is in his 2nd year and also lives in Poly Canyon. It is a little pricey, especially if you have a car, but it is very nice and very convenient. He loves it there but does want to move off-campus next year.</p>
<p>My son was in Cerro Vista his freshman year and moved off campus this year. He’s renting a house with 4 other friends. It’s a very small 5-bedroom house - the attic was converted into 2 bedrooms, one of which my son can’t stand up in so that went to a shorter guy. They had to rent for 12 months starting mid-June. That worked out ok as one of the students did research on campus during the summer and payed a higher part of the rent during that time. Rent is $400/month for my son, and is slightly higher for a couple of the nicer bedrooms. They bought a washer & dryer on Craig’s List…actually I think the dryer was free. It worked for a month or so. They bought another one. The rest of the furnishings came from home or CL. </p>
<p>My son usually takes the bus to campus, and drives there on the weekend. </p>
<p>He doesn’t eat very much - lunch occasionally on campus, dinners at home. They order pizza cheaply via some deals for students. He shops at Trader Joe’s and Albertson’s.</p>
<p>He’s saving thousands of dollars living off campus, and I think it’s been a good experience for him. The roommates are all nice young men, engineering students, pretty serious about their studies.</p>
<p>[San</a> Luis Obispo all housing classifieds - craigslist](<a href=“http://slo.craigslist.org/hhh/]San”>http://slo.craigslist.org/hhh/)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for adding your info and advice! </p>
<p>My son has signed up for PCV and I will pay the deposit by March 1 (along with his Cerro Vista rent ugh!). I read that you can get your deposit back if you change your mind before August 14th without a penalty.</p>
<p>Has anyone had experience living in a nearby apartment complex? We haven’t heard from anyone on that so far.</p>
<p>let’s keep the discussion going if it helps…</p>
<p>My son lives in a condo complex very near campus as a freshman. He lives there because it was deemed too difficult for him to manage some medical issues he has in a dorm (this way he can cook his own food). He loves how close he is and the quiet and space that he has much of the time. The building is very nice and the costs are reasonable. However, the partying on the weekends is intense at times and this bothers me, and often also my son. We looked at PCV but he could not safely share a kitchen. It seems like a beautiful complex and I would probably push my son to choose it if he could.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing that ParentalUnit58. It sounds like your son is doing well in his place. Sorry to hear about the intense parties on the weekends. That could get frustrating to live with. Would you mind sharing the name of the condos and the costs? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Here is a checklist for comparing PCV to other housing options (2011-12) :</p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.calpoly.edu/documents/pcv_cost_compare_web.pdf[/url]”>http://housing.calpoly.edu/documents/pcv_cost_compare_web.pdf</a></p>
<p>PCV private room $763 x 9 mos = $6,867
PCV shared room $617 x 9 mos = $5,553
off-campus rent $400 x 12 mos = $4,800 plus utilities, car, parking permit, furnishings…
off-campus rent $500 x 12 mos = $6,000 plus uitlities, car, parking permit, furnishings…
off-campus rent $600 x 12 mos = $7,200 plus utilities, furnishings (walkable to campus)</p>
<p>My son #2 currently has a shared room at PCV with his freshman year roommate and the room is MUCH larger than the room they shared in Santa Lucia (red brick dorm).</p>
<p>From what we’ve seen, the houses that rent for the $400 range are very old and small (and “humble”). My son is fine with this type of house. PCV is MUCH nicer (if anyone cares).</p>
<p>Thanks Ralph4! Even though it may be more cost effective for my s to live off campus, I feel he should stay on campus for one more year. Fortunately, he wants to.</p>
<p>Thanks ralph4. I can always count on you for good information. Since my husband and I are paying for my son’s housing, we feel that we have a say in where he lives. We do however like to know the options and listen to his thoughts too. I think he is fine with living in PCV and just hopes to have good roomies and be near the girls who currently live across the hall. They have become good friends too. We like the idea that they can request roommates and floormates. It seems like an excellent next step for students and much easier than living off campus. That will happen his junior year and based on how fast this year is going, that is soon enough!</p>
<p>I was asked my son’s location and pricing: Cedar Creek. Costs: room $500 (some units in complex are more ~ $600), plus utilities except trash. Parking is free. Laundry on site and in son’s unit. Some units have laundry, some do not. Already furnished. Walkable.</p>
<p>On campus housing at Cal Poly is still quite cheap compared to on campus housing in very highly desirable areas, like at schools in large cities such as New York, where prices range from $12,000-$15,000/semester (more than twice as much as here). </p>
<p>Also, in the summer sophomores and higher living in cerro or poly canyon can go online and choose which building, apartment, and bedroom in the apartment they want to live in. There is also a feature called roommate pull-in or something like that where if you requested to live with certain people, whoever has the earliest assigned date to chose their apartment/bedroom can reserve spots for their other roommates in the other bedrooms so that they are guranteed to live together.</p>
<p>NTKS17:</p>
<p>When you say sophomores, do you mean current freshmen who will BE sophomores? So my daughter could actually choose her building, apt. etc? That’s a great feature! I had heard about requesting roommates. I imagine they’ll be getting all this information through Housing so I won’t have to ‘remind’ her. </p>
<p>Also, if her current dorm buddies end up living off campus, is there a way that she can advertise for potential apartment mates similar to what she did on Facebook? Or maybe an online bulletin board through Cal Poly?</p>
<p>@2Leashes:</p>
<p>yes, if you’re currently a freshman and gonna be a sophomore next year you get to chose your building and stuff. The best way to find people to live with is to probably just ask around. Even if she knows some people who may not be her best friends, if she gets along well with them, she should ask them if they’re planning to live on campus and if so, if they need another roommate. Some people have one or two people they’re planning on living with and are still looking for one more so that they don’t possibly have to live with someone they don’t know at all.</p>