<p>Hey guys, I've been wondering if anyone's had experience or heard of anyone doing off-campus housing with a UCLA student. Basically, I'm an incoming freshman for UCLA (yes, I know I'm treading on hostile territory, LOL) and I have a friend who is going to USC as a freshman.</p>
<p>we made an agreement that if possible, we'd house together off-campus the next year. I was wondering if anyone here has any advice or input in regards to this situation. </p>
<p>Are there many places in between the two campuses in order to do this and will getting to class be a pain? Will it generally cost a lot?</p>
<p>You would both need cars, and parking at USC will be $800. I am remembering parking at UCLA as being about $600/year a few years ago, so it is likely near the same as USC by now. Los Angeles is filled with apartments, so you would be likely to find something in between, but an apartment shared between only two might be a bit pricy compared to a quad - maybe you could find others to share?</p>
<p>I would personally recommend against it. First off, you both would need cars, but even with cars it will be a pain to get to campus. I don’t know about UCLA parking cost, but it would cost about $800 a year to park on campus at USC (a little cheaper if you park at the off campus parking structure). Secondly, there will be a lot of times when you would want to go to campus for none class related activities (whether it’s group projects, meeting with friends, or doing something on campus) which would be a pain to constantly drive to campus, especially in LA traffic. I live a couple blocks off USC’s campus and I’m constantly going to campus for random reasons (to gym, for research, for club stuff), it would be a pain to stay on campus all day if you have to be there in the morning and then randomly in the afternoon. Thirdly, the only place somewhat inbetween the two campuses which is somewhat reasonably priced would be in K-town (which is a lot closer to SC than UCLA). In between USC and UCLA is century city area (I don’t know how much this area costs, but I would think reasonably expensive especially for student housing), Beverley hills (Expensive, even for the middle-class areas), somewhat sketch lower middle-class areas, and Koreatown (both sketch areas and some decently priced apartments)</p>
<p>All-in-all I would say, live on campus and meet new people, and just hang out with your friend a lot</p>
<p>I would recommend against it simply for the social aspect. I’m not sure of your circumstances, but if possible, I highly HIGHLY recommend staying in a dorm at ucla. I feel like the “dorm experience” is one every college student should have!! Is there any reason you don’t want to/can’t stay in the dorms?</p>
<p>I smell trouble if that happens and you may be a socially ostracized.</p>
<p>I’m not exactly sure why, but I think the OP is referring to sophomore or perhaps junior year, not freshman year. </p>
<p>For the record, Century City is very expensive.</p>
<p>I’d check out the Palms area. Very reasonable, well situated.</p>