<p>My son will be transferring from the Altoona campus next fall (2012). Any recommendations for off campus housing would be appreciated. Some of the reviews of apartments and costs are scary!</p>
<p>PSU Mudda- can’t help you there but I wonder if you wouldn’t mind posting about your S’s experience at Altoona. How were the academics? What is the student life like? Was your son happy that he chose to attend Altoona? Are you from the Central PA area? If not, where are you from?</p>
<p>[Off-Campus</a> Living | Online Classifieds](<a href=“Penn State University | Off-Campus Housing Search”>Penn State University | Off-Campus Housing Search)</p>
<p>I think starting at Altoona was the right choice for my son. He found the academics challenging enough and the smaller class sizes helpful. Not a whole lot to do around Altoona area, but also he didn’t have time to get involved in all the clubs of which there are many. We are from Jersey so it gave us enough distance to let him grow. I think it’s a great way to get your feet wet before having to transfer to the main campus. Good luck!</p>
<p>PSU Mudda- interesting that your OOS son went to Altoona- I’ve been under the impression that it drew mostly kids from Central PA. Are there many OOS or non-Central PA kids at Altoona? How about diversity?</p>
<p>As to academics, what major is your son studying? Did he find that in general the student body was smart and academically focused, or is there a lot of partying?</p>
<p>And when you say there is not much to do in Altoona- you put your finger on another issue I’d be concerned about. What did your son do with his free time? Or did he spend it all studying?</p>
<p>PSU’s housing cycle gives the best chance for apartments to those who decide by late October. So, if your son wants a good place, he’ll need to have roommates and sec. deposit in an Oct/Nov 2011 timeframe for fall 2012. It is not uncommon for students to campout prior to announced opening of the major realtors waitlists! Some realtors allow them to hold a spot while they find roommates. But here are my impressions both as a parent and having lived here 20 years:</p>
<p>Anyway. Stay away from the complexes on Waupelani and Easterly. Not safe places, imho. Anything out on Vairo, Martin St. are much cheaper and very nice places, and on the bus routes. Downtown apartments are expensive, and impersonal. If he must live in town, try the Fairmount I and II buildings, which are smaller and run by actual human beings as opposed to a corporation. There are a few new, nice buildings on W. College but they will run you close to $600. “West Village”, where most of the converted-to-housing residential homes are, can be okay. In general, residential housing is cheaper and most of the landlords are nice people. </p>
<p>My son lived at The Graduate and loved it. Lived at The Meridian (other end of town) and it was miserable. GN Associate buildings have better reps than The Apartment Store places and are the most reasonably priced; there are a few on University that are okay, but the super-cheap ones are not safe places. No matter where he lives, you should not bet on the security deposit coming back to you!</p>
<p>I just wanted to comment about Altoona – I think it’s a very underrated campus. It’s small enough to take care of your kid, but not so small there’s nothing to do and only 35 minutes from UP. Many students who want a smaller campus, or are worried about academic ability, go there first. The professors are great and actually know your student. State College likes to look down at Altoona, but that’s a local feud that isn’t fair. There’s a AA ballpark, arena, etc…plenty to keep them busy.</p>
<p>The Altoona campus is more like an hour away from UP.</p>
<p>greenbutton- did you have a child that went to Altoona? If so, I’d love to hear more about their experience and if you have any answers to my questions from post#5</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I detract from the OP or anything but I saw a reply on this thread that kind of alarmed me. </p>
<p>@Greenbutton: Just to clarify, you’re saying that if someone at Penn State is interested in fall 2012 off campus housing they would need to find and put down a deposit for an apartment during this October/November? That seems insane to me but I have limited knowledge about how these sort of things work.</p>
<p>@ pamom59 : my student was accepted at Altoona and UP; we visited Altoona campus and I can’t answer everything, but…Yes, the majority of students are from PA. The perception is that if your grades aren’t good enough to get you into UP, and you are local, you get Altoona. That being said, many students choose the “small start”. I don’t think there is more partying in 'Toona than at UP – students who want to party will have no trouble finding them, those who don’t can stay clear of that scene. My perception as an adult is that there truly is an overdrinking problem at UP, but there are also lots of high-achieving students who aren’t into that; it’s hard to generalize. Also, some students go to Altoona to get access to varsity sports like soccer. </p>
<p>The Altoona “campus” is fairly far from the city center. There’s lots of shopping, and easy access to Pgh and SC if you have a car or want to take a bus. Altoona is small, and has seen better days. Professors seem really engaged with their students and as highly qualified as the ones at main campus. The campus itself is well-cared for and attractive within the limits of being pretty tiny.</p>
<p>@ericalynn: you have a sophomore/junior transferring in, who wants off campus housing? Yes, they need to choose a place and put down a deposit no later than November of this fall to have the best choice of the best places. I know, it’s bizarre, and consider that PSU housing contracts don’t come out until Dec/January. So, if you are a freshman living in a dorm, you won’t find out until late fall if you’ve gotten a room in the lottery, or not, for sophomore year. By then, it’s a mad scramble. Yes, there will still be odds and ends of places available, but you won’t have much choice at all. All that being said, the realty websites are very informative and upfront about the timeline. And most – but not nearly all – students who want to live on campus can manage to. The housing shortage is real, and prices reflect that. Expect to pay $400-$450 for an average 4-people 2BDR apartment, a little less for a boarding house room, a lot more for an upscale newer apartment. Again, the further away from downtown (Beaver Canyon) you get, the less things cost.</p>
<p>I agree with greenbutton’s comments. Many of the students are from PA although my son has also met many from out of state. Last year he had a roommate from eastern PA and this year, one from NY and one from NJ.</p>
<p>He is studying engineering so he does spend a lot of time studying. His perception is that the student body is generally smart and focused. Like greenbutton said, there are students that are there because they didn’t get into UP but also many that want to start at a smaller campus with smaller classes. The professors are great and, in fact, many teach at Altoona in the morning and at UP in the afternoon and vice-versa. So, yes, the course are challenging and comparative to UP.</p>
<p>If they want to find parties, I’m sure they can but my son was in Pennview Suites and it seemed pretty tame. </p>
<p>As far as things to do, my son is into fishing and snowboarding so he was able to do some of that in his spare time fairly close by, and, as mentioned, UP is @50 min away. In town you can find movies or bowling but there’s not a ton, and he really did spend a lot of time studying. There are lots of clubs and rec sports on campus. It’s just a matter of how involved you want to get. </p>
<p>I am very happy he chose to start at Altoona and am not really looking forward to the apartment chase at UP.</p>
<p>greenbutton - Thank you so much for the information! It definitely gives me some guidelines in this confusing process.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info PSU Mudda! One other question about Altoona…what is the on campus housing like? Are freshman guaranteed housing?</p>
<p>No, freshman are not guaranteed housing. In fact, we accepted at Altoona by Jan but were immediately informed there was no housing available for males. (females still had some). On campus is very limited but my son said some of the on-campus is really nice if you can get it. We were able to find off-campus, close apts pretty easily. Pennview is within walking distance and we did not have to find roommates, they were automatically placed. I have had no problem with the company and did get the security deposit back w/o question. Plus, we didn’t have to get the meal plan which is required on-campus. We did get the minimum meal plan the 1st sem and found he didn’t use it since he had a kitchen, so cancelled it for spring. There is a link to off-campus housing on the Altoona site.</p>
<p>One other adv to Altoona is that it is cheaper than UP, so you can save a little in the first two years, let your student get acclimated to college life, and hopefully limit stress.</p>
<p>PSU Mudda, thanks very much for answering questions about Altoona. I can find very little information about it and don’t know anyone who has gone there. We live in the Philly area.</p>
<p>I still have some hesitations about Altoona as choice for my D. I know that comments on college review sites are not that reliable, but for instance I found the comment below on a leading review site:</p>
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<p>How do you react to a statement like that? Do you think there is any truth to the comments?</p>
<p>People are entitled to their opinions, but don’t mistake one person’s opinion for that of the entire school. There was recently a thread on the penn state message board on CC that was basically one person’s rant about how they hated the school. They made all kinds of wild accusations that, well, weren’t really anything more an entirely biased opinion.</p>
<p>My advice, talk to a lot of people (at least 10), try and get an overall consensus view of that people thing of the school. If you find that some of the things mentioned by that person you reference above, are consistent, then I would think twice about going there.</p>
<p>warrior- thanks- and I do remember that rant. I think you were a student at university park all four years? Did you know students who transferred in from Altoona, and can you pass along any remarks of their experiences, even though it is second hand, about the academics and campus culture at Altoona? Did you think that the Altoona kids were well prepared for the coursework at main campus?</p>
<p>I can agree with a couple of statements in the review such as there is only one dining hall which has typical college food. I went to Rutgers and all I remember is “put cheese sauce on everything.” Also, it is smaller and much more quiet than being on a big campus. I think it is more diverse than the reviewer indicates. I’m sure you can find many negative comments about any college. Everybody has an opinion.</p>
<p>All I can say is it was the right choice for us. My son found the courses challenging and the professors very friendly and approachable. He enjoyed the quiet and I was glad of having fewer distractions in his first year. For us it was easy since it was where he wanted to go. Keep in mind, it’s only 2 years and then they do move to the main campus.</p>
<p>Best to visit to see if you can get a feel for them.</p>
<p>I was also thinking that visiting the campus would help answer some of pamom59’s questions, e.g. those about housing and diversity. </p>
<p>With such a large percentage of students coming from the branch campuses I would say that in general they would have to be prepared for the coursework at University Park or there would be ongoing problems for the UP faculty who teach the upper level courses.</p>