<p>I am an incoming international graduate student at Penn State. I heard that during the daytime, students can only park their cars at the Beaver stadium (east side), but my department is near music department and art--playhouse theater. </p>
<p>I know that PSU has buses (loop or shuttle), but I was thinking that I will need to spend a lot of time, like:</p>
<pre><code>(Drive 20 mins) (wait for 5-10 mins) (Maybe 15-20 mins)
</code></pre>
<p>Home----------> Stadium-----------> Bus -----------> Department </p>
<p>The total time could be 40-50 mins, and if it snows or traffic........Oh My! </p>
<p>So here are my questions:
1. Does the stadium parking lot have enough parking spaces for students so that I don't need to spend more time on parking or waiting for a space?
2. How much time if I walk from parking lot to the music department?
3. Is biking a better way? I like to ride a bike, but I read the other post said that PSU has lots of hills and thus is hard to ride.
4. How much time do you estimate that I should spend if I need to take shuttle bus from the student parking lot to my department?
5. What is the most convenient way and fast way you think and suggest?</p>
<p>I would really appreciate your advice, experiences, and suggestions!!
Thank you so much for your help!!</p>
<p>Where will you be living?</p>
<p>1moremom Thank you for your reply. :)</p>
<p>Actually, I don’t know yet. Almost all the good apartments (reasonable price, good place…) are already rented out, so I think I will need to live a little further and drive to school. (That’s the reason why I asked these questions on my original post)</p>
<p>The apartments that I am looking for seems not very close to the campus ( e.g. Toftrees, Nittanny Crossing, state college apt, Parkway Plaza, Briarwood, University Terrace, Calder Commons, Copper Beech, Teaberry Ridge, Vairo Village, or park forest villas…) Any suggestions for housing? I feel frustrated that when I called, and the answers are always “sorry…we don’t have any room available until next year” And sometimes, I feel the manager is not very nice to answer my questions because my English is not good and I have accent. I wish I could know more about the live in State college then I won’t be so nervous (sigh….)</p>
<p>If you expect to arrive in State College in August and rent an apartment, you are in for a real shock. That being said, all those apartments (except Calder Commons, which is right downtown and probably full by now) you’ve listed are not near campus. You will not walk. But if you are an international student, you weren’t bringing a car, now were you? (Sometimes I think you are making all this up) Did you request oncampus housing? There is a whole set of apartments for international grad students, but there are not a lot of them.</p>
<p>You will take a CATA bus from your apartment to campus – all of the major apartment places are near a bus stop or have their own bus stop. If you are headed towards the music buildings, you are most likely going to get off at the stop right in front of Pattee Library, a nice central location and sheltered from the worst of the weather (you can always go inside). It’s a very simple and good solution. </p>
<p>International grad students usually arrive earlier than everyone else, and usually have that office helping them secure housing. You really should contact them and see how they can help you. They are friendly people used to the unique problems of international students. Search the PSU main website until you find the info.</p>
<p>Greenbutton, thank you for your reply and suggestions! </p>
<p>I can’t bring my car from my country but I plan to buy a used car when I arrive. I have done a lot of research. I know the White Course Apartments on campus are specific for the graduate student but international students don’t have any special offers for the housing. </p>
<p>The University Office of Global Programs (the international student officer) are nice but they can’t really help individual one, they just gave us this link [Housing:</a> First-Year Students: International Students](<a href=“Home Page | LiveOn”>Home Page | LiveOn) and told us take a look at that and there is only one apartment (white course) on the campus, other than that, we have to find the off-campus housing, all the processes are just like every PSU student who can’t live on campus. (google apartments.com, apartment rating…)</p>
<p>I know most people like to take bus, but I would like to get some more information about if I want to drive to school. The time would be more flexible if I can drive back and forth to school and home. (some of our meetings or research labs schedule are not on the weekday or daytime…I know students can park on campus after 4pm as long as we bought the parking permits. But I want to know more about parking at stadium during daytime.) If take bus can save more time, then I will. I just don’t like to spend too much time on transportation. So I really hope if someone in this forum has some experiences that can answer my questions on my original post. (I know maybe you feel the questions are stupid, but I really don’t have idea about campus life at PSU)</p>
<p>By the way, I wish I could arrive earlier, but according to the laws, “international students arrive no more than 30 days before their academic program begins”, which apply to all the schools in the US (not PSU’s problem). I know housing in state college is a little weird that people start signing the contract in October for the next academic year. And that’s why I am trying to get more information and looking for housing now because I know I have to speed up.</p>
<p>Fair enough. A car will make finding an apartment more complicated, because not all apartment complexes also offer parking, so now you are very late in the season looking for an apartment AND parking. (which will also cost more). And a car! Wow, you are more ambitious than I would be in your shoes 
You will need to register the car with the parking office (located in the Eisenhower Deck) in person. There are not unlimited parking tags but it’s not like they are scarce, either.</p>
<p>Not everyone has to park at the lot near the Stadium. Some park near Materials science off of University Dr. It just depends. Generally speaking, I would not be concerned about the parking for commuting students. (And you would be a commuter, since you don’t live in a dorm). You can park anywhere on campus after 5, regardless of whether or not you have a parking tag (some restrictions apply). And oddly enough, you CAN’T park some places on campus if you DO have a tag (some parking decks, for example). You should expect it to be time consuming no matter what you do, and there will be walking no matter what. </p>
<p>I would be much more concerned about the apartment than the car.</p>