How much is their stipend? I met a recent Econ PhD who ended up in health tech after 2 years in academia and she boasted that she got the same opportunities in industry as MBAs - and with negative debt because she did not pay tuition and she got a stipend. And her opportunity cost was low since she went for her pHD right after undergrad,
When she described her financial circumstance, I though she had an awesome deal!
@85bears46 they would probably get Stony and I-House once the new undergrad dorm is built. While having a dedicated dorm for grad students makes sense, most probably would bale and opt for those vintage apts. by 2nd year. Anyway, not all the apartments in HP are vintage these days, from what I’ve seen 
@FStratford Econ. stipend might be high $20’s.
@JBStillFlying You are most certainly right about some of the newer constructions in HP. If Vue 53 is not a Four Seasons or Peninsula, at least it is as good as a Hyatt or Hilton, which is far better than some of the 100 year old apartments I rented in the 1980’s. On the other hand, at $2,200 per month Vue 53 is also six to seven times more expensive than what I paid for those dilapidated HP apartments.
This is from the grapevine: last summer U of C had to ask some juniors or seniors to give up their dorm rooms because the Administration ran out of space to accommodate the incoming class of 2021. In return, the Administration offered these juniors and seniors the choice to stay at Vue 53. I heard within 5 minutes of that offer coming online, all of the Vue 53 spaces were grabbed by juniors and seniors 
.
My kids occupied (serially), with roommates, a huge pre-war apartment in Hyde Park for four years. It was great, and not remotely decrepit. (You could tell it was pre-war because of the swastika pattern in the tiles of the sun porch.) Two bedrooms, one decent bath,a huge kitchen with pantry, large living room with partially separate dining area, and sun porch. It was a 3/4 mile walk to the Reg, and completely convenient to the 55 and 6 buses and the Metra. Including utilities and summer rent, with two people living there, it cost less than the dorms (and it cost way less when you took food into account). Non-MAC. They loved it; I loved it; I was sorry to say goodbye to it when the younger child graduated, got a job, and moved to Ukrainian Village.
Hyde Park has great places to live if you are a student. That’s part of the problem with Chicago’s effort to have more undergraduates living in dorms – the competition is pretty stiff.
If they return I-House to grad student use, they won’t have dorm beds for 60% of undergraduates even after they build Woodlawn. I think I-House represents more than 20% of current capacity. And I-House was nowhere near fully utilized when it was a grad student dorm.
" I heard within 5 minutes of that offer coming online, all of the Vue 53 spaces were grabbed by juniors and seniors ."
Quelle Surprise! LOL. Two of our friends’ kids were offered the same but they were rising 2nd years so no dice. I had to explain to D17 that she will probably not be so lucky if this happens again - and that was BEFORE the new dorm announcement.
“If they return I-House to grad student use, they won’t have dorm beds for 60% of undergraduates even after they build Woodlawn. I think I-House represents more than 20% of current capacity. And I-House was nowhere near fully utilized when it was a grad student dorm.”
Ah. Then I-House can still be a mix? Frankly, many of us bolted out of I-house for a walk up or high rise when we had the chance. And that was in the grittier days of the neighborhood’s history. Last fall, I attempted to rent an AirBnB apartment on 57th near Stony Res. Hall. The young lady had to cancel because her landlord found out (guess there are rules). She was obvoiusly a student and trying to pick up some extra cash - would hang with friends or with family during my stay. We’ve rented from a few of these during our various college visits over the past few years. Anyway, it was a NICE PLACE and affordable. So there are definitely decent rentals in HP. I’m sure the rents are higher* too, but many of us were pretty poor and still managed to find decent housing and furniture! Hubby and I even made some of our own furniture till the wedding checks could be cashed LOL. We also bought second hand from other grad students, or had stuff made by carpenters charging a reasonable price (we still own and use some of that stuff). These were the days before Internet, and we still had PLENTY of resources to find these bargains. It’s a college neighborhood - there will be lots of different options for everything.
@JHS #23
I enjoy reading your post and from your extensive replies I can infer that your kids went to U of C between 2003 and 2009. That was the beginning of the renaissance of Hyde Park. I left HP around mid-1980’s. According to our friends who stuck around, pretty much the worst period for HP was from late 1970’s to early 1990’s. The apartments we rented were old (my current joke is that they were built not even in the last century but the one before that in 1890’s) with frayed carpets, leaking windows, peeling paint on the wall, loud radiators and faulty gas stove that was a fire hazard. But as poor graduate students we took what we could afford.
Coincidentally, that nadir in HP happened to correspond to the term of Hanna Grey as U of C President. Of course, correlation does not imply causality. Yet there is no doubt that with Sonnenschein and Zimmer there has been a marked physical improvement to the University and HP.
@JBFlying #25
“We also bought second hand from other grad students, or had stuff made by carpenters charging a reasonable price (we still own and use some of that stuff). These were the days before Internet, and we still had PLENTY of resources to find these bargains.”
Same here. I think somewhere in our basement we still have a couple of sofa chairs that we bought from our friends in mid 1980’s. Before Internet (as what my daughter describes as the Dark Age 
) we searched for stuff from either words of mouth or posting boards. BTW posting boards still exist and I saw two in front of Cobb Hall last week.
My kids were students at Chicago 2005 - 2011 and one has been a grad student and/or employed there since 2013 (but without moving back to Hyde Park). The apartment I described was rented from June 2007 - August 2011. It was nicer than any apartment either of them has lived in since, at greater cost, in hipster Brooklyn or in hipster Chicago.
Does anyone live in South Shore these days? In the late sixties lots of students lived there. The apartments were large, the rents reasonable and the premises in good condition. They were better deals than anything you could find in Hyde Park, though you paid for those advantages with loss of proximity. However, in those days with sufficient patience you could always find a parking spot somewhere on the Midway. I shared a place on Crandon Ave just south of the park with three fellow grad students. It was sunny and spacious, and we repurposed the dining room into a ping pong parlor, something I have never had in any residence before or since. I will always remember the pockety-pock of paddle hitting ball in counterpoint to the symphonies of Sibelius, blasting away at all times of day and night in the adjacent bedroom of one of our number.
We knew at least one grad student who grew up near Jeffries Blvd. in South Shore and attended Lab - parent was faculty at Chicago. I recall a pocket of “neighborhoody” houses around that area, but couldn’t find it when I was driving around last fall - it’s there, I had just forgotten how to get to it. I’ve looked into Air BnB’s in the area as well that are very reasonable but haven’t stayed at one yet. Parts of South Shore seemed fine when we were last back there, but other parts were in pretty bad shape - maybe around 71st or so?
you’re probably thinking of Jackson Park Highlands between Jeffrey, Stony Island, 71st, and Jackson Park
And nope - most people affiliated with U of C haven’t ever entered South Shore, let alone live there. Grad students looking for cheaper rents are somehow more likely to commute over an hour from Logan Square.
“Coincidentally, that nadir in HP happened to correspond to the term of Hanna Grey as U of C President. Of course, correlation does not imply causality. Yet there is no doubt that with Sonnenschein and Zimmer there has been a marked physical improvement to the University and HP.”
A lot of the expansion and renovation seems to have done under Zimmer - or I guess Sonnenschein got Ratnor going?And Sonn. was also responsible for beginning the expansion of the College and revising/scaling back the Core from 21 courses to the current 15-18 (depending on whether you can place out of FL). - BTW, great article on Sonnenschein’s resignation and the Core can be found here: https://www.goacta.org/news/u_of_chicago_presidents_plan_to_resign_doesnt_quiet_debate_over_his_agenda
Whatever you want to say about Sonnenschein or the Core - and there are students and alum today who have strong views on it - he did start the ball rolling on restoring the College to its former size - and then some! Presidents are responsible for the financial strength of the university so his changes, though controversial and obviously connected to his resignation, were likely very much needed - at least, history seems to be suggesting that. There was no way someone like Hannah Gray could make those changes - even if she wanted to. You needed an outsider to come in and say “What The Heck People!”, make the painful and necessary changes, and then take one for the team and exit.
I was there during the tail-end of Gray’s tenure at the helm and what the university overlooked in terms of physical plant and fundraising it more than made up for in terms of remaining an academic powerhouse in the face of difficult socio-economic changes in the 'hood. That is no small accomplishment. BTW, the entire city of Chicago was grittier and a lot uglier than it is now. People might have forgotten that 30 years ago Navy Pier was in danger of falling into the Lake! There’s not a day now when it isn’t packed with visitors. Richie Daly changed a lot about the city and the result was that businesses and families started to move back, after years of moving out. He even put flowers everywhere, including OHare Airport.
Perhaps Gray’s retirement was the true end of the Hutchinson-era, and Sonnenschein the start of a new phase for the university.
IIRC, HP was not the only major research university locale known for being in “tough times”. An overall reduction in violent crime works wonders for the jewels that are our urban centers and the neighborhoods surrounding them. Despite all the bad news about parts of the South Side, HP is safer and a much better place to live, as @85bears46 has pointed out. Some of my friends and family who chose to move/work there have said the same. “It’s not like when we were grad students” has been the common mantra.
“you’re probably thinking of Jackson Park Highlands between Jeffrey, Stony Island, 71st, and Jackson Park”
That could be. It was tucked away right underneath Jackson Park and that seems to be where this little area is. @HydeSnark, who is living there now? University faculty or yuppies and their families or . . . ? Is the neighborhood integrated at all?
Upper middle class black families live there. Doctors, lawyers, business people, etc. and families. Not really university people - most people affiliated with the university are scared to go too far into Woodlawn, let alone South Shore.
[No part](The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas) of the South Shore is integrated, [Jackson Park Highlands](The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas) no exception.
“most people affiliated with the university are scared to go too far into Woodlawn, let alone South Shore”
@HydeSnark we would golf at South Shore Links or Jackson Park regularly. Mostly South Shore because as a 9 hole course it was much faster. Jackson Park was the only 18-hole course in Chicago at the time - might still be. Lots of B-schoolers at both courses, not to mention golfers from all over. Are you saying that doesn’t happen anymore?
Not that I know of. But I also don’t know anyone who golfs.
^^ Addendum to above, a UChicago prof. who lived in South Shore was killed (hit by a jeep) while jogging a couple of years ago. Here’s the link to the article. https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2016/07/26/gary-toback-renowned-authority-kidney-disease-1941-2016
Posting just because I was always under the impression that there was faculty living in South Shore.
Just wondering if anyone has eaten at Valois restaurant (or diner?) near Hyde Park? Does anyone know how close it is to campus? Also heard it’s President Obama’s fav restaurant, heh.
@uocparent Valois is located on E 53rd, which is an easy walk from campus. My second year daughter says the food is good with large portions, and inexpensive. Just remember to bring cash! It is located across the street from what would have been President Obama’s office when he was the Illinois State Senator for the 13th district.
^^I guess everyone’s eaten at Valois. It’s on 53rd a couple of blocks north and a couple of blocks east of the far northeastern tip of the quad. We’ve gone there mainly for breakfast but it’s open all day and into the evening. Large portions and inexpensive…and quick! I personally liked it a lot. When you watch the men and women behind the counter operate like clockwork you may be reminded of the, “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger” SNL skit with Belushi and Ackroyd, as I am. Supposedly it was (is?) a favorite place of the former President. Highly recommend you go at least once, then if you like it go back (and back).