<p>i really want to go to cornell for grad school, but i have some questions about ithaca as a place to live</p>
<p>i've investigated rent costs and they seem fairly low (compared to new haven, boston etc), but what about heating bills and so on?</p>
<p>do landlords usually include heat and hot water in rent? and if not, what's the average cost per month for that sort of thing?</p>
<p>also are there any local taxes i need to know about? if you rent a place there, is there a yearly tax to pay? </p>
<p>and how's the bus system? on the cornell website it mentions buses stopping 'after hours'. what time would that be? is it easy to get around without a car? </p>
<p>hi, I live off campus so I may be able to answer some questions.</p>
<p>rent is cheap here. real cheap, compared to cities. landlords pay for water but that's about it. you have to pay for heat and electricity... heating is a lot. i can give you a figure for it later. there are no taxes. parking is a rip-off but i assume you dont have a car. </p>
<p>the bus system is good, but you it costs $1.50 a trip, or you can get a bus pass for about $150 a year. the bus pass is only really worth it if you live really far off campus. there are a couple free buses that go around campus after 9 pm or so. we lovingly refer to it as the drunk bus for obvious reasons. the only thing you would really need a car for is to go to a supermarket. there are convenience stores near campus but they rip you off. i think you can get to the parks by bus, but i've never actually done it. i'll check up on that for you later also.</p>
<p>My rent is $420 a month for a room in a nine-bedroom house/apartment, very close to campus. The extras we pay for (mainly heat) average $40/person in spring and fall, but peak at around $100 in the middle of winter.</p>
<p>The bus system is great. You can really get wherever you need to go at almost any time. When I was a freshman I bought the pass to get from north campus to engineering daily, and it was worth it. This year, living much closer to campus (specifically engineering), I don't need a bus pass. But for $1.50 I can get downtown whenever I need to. Buses run late, but of course the schedules thin out. tcatbus.com has all the info.</p>
<p>There is a bus terminal in Ithaca, which is served by greyhound, shortline, and less frequently by some smaller lines that go throughout upstate new york.</p>
<p>Quality of dorms depend entirely on the dorm. The newest dorms on North Campus (where the freshman students live) are pretty nice, although they lack sound insulation in the walls. There is one bathroom for every 4 rooms or so, and that was great for me. The other dorms are nothing to brag about. Just typical dorms. West Campus (where the upperclassmen live) is being totally rebuilt. While the gothic dorms will stay, everything else is being torn down and rebuilt. I know someone who lives in the newest dorm on west campus and it is pretty nice. Most of the rooms are grouped into suites with private bathrooms and living rooms and the mailroom and dining hall is in the dorm building itself, and that is very convenient.</p>
<p>whoever gets to know that i've been accepted to cornell only talks about how cold it is up there...so since we're talking about ithaca...i mean how bad is it really???</p>
<p>school runs from end of august through may, so for the most of that time youll be in winter. its really not that much worse than other NE cities, but there seems to be more snow because we're right by the finger lakes. the snow really isnt that bad and you get used to it.</p>