<p>I would take what longhorndude says with a grain of salt. The majority of his posts, with the exception of maybe one, appear to be endorsing the Castillian. I say you visit this place before you make a decision, and maybe get get the opinion of someone who’s living there in person. I definitely have doubts about the quality of this place.</p>
<p>You should definately visit. And listen, if you lived somewhere that you liked, would you really go to a board like this and say all sorts of wonderful things about someplace else. Wouldn’t that be a little strange? Nobody is forcing anyone’s hand here - I’m just saying that The Castilian is a better Value than anything else out there – you’ll find cheaper and you’ll find newer (like Duran hall) but i think that dollar for dollar this is probably the best place to live. And, like I’ve said in other posts, of the off-campus stuff it is by far the cleanest.</p>
<p>You know, it is not much more expensive than living on campus, and for a hungry guy who actually eats three meals a day, I would have to agree with Mr. longhorndude. </p>
<p>If you are evaluating dorm living on the basis of price and will definitely eat a hearty cafeteria breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day, in the long run, Castilian would be cheaper than the cheapest on-campus dorm. You score another point for Castilian, longhorndude.</p>
<p>(I think you would get tired of eating every meal in the same place.)</p>
<p>yes, you are right MidwestMom – sometimes that does happen – getting tired of every meal in the same place. They have a lot of variety here but as you can imagine even if you went out to dinner at your favorite restaurant every night – after an entire semester of eating there, it wouldn’t be something you looked forward to so much. I can say that they do some fancy items at Castilian – along with the standard cafeteria stuff so that keeps it interesting.</p>
<p>They really should be paying you.</p>
<p>I laugh every time I see a post by longhorndude because he always talks about the Castilian. It’s cool though cause you’ve given good info. </p>
<p>What do you think is the better value: Duren, San Jacinto, or Castilian?</p>
<p>Hi, I’m planning to attend UT this fall, but the housing cost for any of the dorms is way too high for my income and financial aid won’t cover enough either. So, i was thinking about residing in one of the co-op houses nearby to avoid using loans, but I don’t really know much about them. Does anybody here have any experience with co-op living? Are they generally safe and a smart choice; or should they be avoided at all cost?</p>
<p>theloneranger is a current freshman who posts here relatively regularly. He mentioned Taos in a post not too long ago. It certainly has a good location.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/689425-campus-off-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/689425-campus-off-campus.html</a></p>
<p>I was thinking Seneca also has a good location and it sounds nice because it has central air. <a href=“http://iccaustin.coop/join/compare-houses.shtml[/url]”>http://iccaustin.coop/join/compare-houses.shtml</a></p>
<p>About two years ago a parent told about a young UT freshman who was placed with a considerably older non-student druggie as a roommate in one of the coops and it did not work out well; it might be helpful to try to make sure that if they are going to give you a roommate that it will be someone near your own age who goes to UT or ACC, something like that.</p>
<p>Generally thinking, I think the coops sound great. Lots of colleges used to have coops available for housing; not many do any more. I think they are particularly good for people who are new to Austin UT and don’t want to furnish and apartment, clean, grocery shop, etc. but want to avoid living with freshmen.</p>
<p>Is it required to live on campus for your freshman year?</p>
<p>You are not required to live on campus your freshman year – in fact, only 6,000 students, or 15% of the UTexas student body, lives on campus.</p>
<p>if I understand correctly, duren and san jac are a little more expensive than the other on-campus dorms so they’re more in-line with Castilian and other off-campus housing options. They’re really nice – especially Duren. San Jac feels likes a hospital to me – so sterile but Duren is designed a little differently. It’s a toss-up in my opinion between those 3 but I would prob go Duren, Castilian, San Jac – tough decision though between 1 and 2. Freshmen are not required to live on campus at UT an in cast since ut can only hold 7200 people on campus and they accept about 6800 freshmen, it would be difficult for them all to fit even if every single one wanted to. They usually get about 70% of freshmen to live on campus – the others live just west.</p>
<p>San Jac. has a private bathroom that you only share with your roommate, correct?</p>
<p>I believe you share the restroom between your room and the one next to you.</p>
<p>That’s the main reason why I want to stay in San Jac. I don’t want to share a bathroom with a bunch of people.</p>
<p>leeznon, sharing a bathroom was one of my concerns as well, but have you ever lived by yourself for over a week?</p>
<p>My dad/mom go on vacation a lot during the school year so my sister and I stay at home a lot. Both of us are lazy with household chores so the bathroom can get dirty really fast, especially the tub. Having a public bath with professional cleaning is a lot better than having to decide between your roommate and you on who’s going to clean it.</p>
<p>Great point, I never thought about that. What do community baths usually look like? How hard is it to use whenever you want, isn’t it always busy?</p>
<p>A private bath is one shared by you and your roommate. A connecting bath is shared by two rooms or usually 4 people, two in each room, with the bathroom in between the two rooms. It is the students responsibility to clean and provide toilet tissue for private and connecting baths.
Community bath has a bad reputation, but ask anyone who has lived on a floor with community bath and they will tell you that it is a great way to get you out of your room, onto your floor and you see other residents who live on your floor. Community baths are large and I have never had a complaint that there was waiting. DHFS Staff cleans the community baths daily and provides toilet tissue. Showers are private within the community bath.</p>
<p>San Jacinto and Duren have Private bath, that is, you share a bathroom with only you and your roommate. If someone says that they have a ‘connecting bath,’ that’s when they share a bathroom between two rooms.</p>
<p>Belated thanks, Midwestmomof2, for the info re: library across from Jester. </p>
<p>I can’t sleep at night thinking of all the variables; wondering if UT (w/big loans) & Jester (big dorm) will be right for son. </p>
<p>Crossing fingers and hoping it all works out!</p>
<p>Good luck to all the students picking housing!!</p>
<p>if you are planning to live on-campus, I recommend the private bath or connecting bath – purely because its a whole lot more convenient and “private” – its not a lot of fun to walk down a cold hallway to your “community bathroom.” It’s better to meet your friends in the hallways, cafeteria, library, class, etc than the bathrooms.</p>