<p>DD just came home from SCAD - didn’t even finish first quarter. NOT a good fit. (Not because it’s not safe, but it’s NOT the safest of cities.) The Town vs. Gown relationship is pretty negative - on the side of the gowns. Truly. DD was horrified by the student culture - one of entitlement/disdain for anyone working for a living. Yes, this is a gross generalization, but I saw it too - multiple times - and I was only there a handful of visits - the way students spoke to security staff, cleaning staff, bus drivers, etc., made me wanna box ears. Safety issues: insufficient street lighting. (Students are in virtual black-out walking to their dorms after dark.) Insufficient number of operational buses. DD described the “push” to get on a bus, the elbows to the face and body, the students standing in the middle of streets to be the first on the bus, the live GPS bus app they tout at SCAD day that doesn’t really work, (because buses don’t always stop at all the stops listed on the app, so you may find yourself waiting on the curb, after dark, only to have your bus zip past.) Petty crime is pretty rampant. If your car hasn’t been broken into, it’s just a matter of time and if you have a SCAD sticker on your car, you’re just asking for a ticket - for something. (Small, petty crime seems to be the way of it, but not so much crime that poses a threat to your person - unless its by other students.) We were looking at houses in the downtown area, (which btw, is a bizarre real estate market that varies from block-to-block.) Anyway, while waiting for the realtor, I witnessed the exchange of money for fat envelope of… something… through the window of a car. Best way to get to know a neighborhood is to chat-up the local drug dealer, so… I did. We had a nice, friendly sort of chat about the make-up of the neighborhood, the number of people who rent vs. own homes along the street, etc. (A lot of adult males sitting on porches during 9-5 hours - because there is insufficient work in the city.) Anyhoo, I finally got around to asking his opinion with regard to my DD living on that street. “Do you think this is a safe neighborhood for my daughter to live?” He laughed and said, without hesitation, “no way!” Gotta love the honesty. Guess that explains the security around the dorm villages. They have pretty substantial fencing with security guards at the gates of most of the dorms. The first week, one of the security gates into DD’s dorm wasn’t working, so students had to walk an extra block in the pitch dark to get to the security guarded gate. it was repaired by the end of the week, but… yeah.</p>