Where to live?

I cant connect to the UTEID fall 2017 spring 2018 application link, but will call them tomorrow. However i was wondering of any other good places to live that’s fairly close to campus?

i’ll try to get you a rough understandings of areas to live around campus, pros and cons , cause i’ve been looking, doing research and visiting these areas. it depends on your preference, budget, year etc as well

1/ West Campus: -pro: closest to campus, within walking distance, i heard they have party quiet often so it’s good for freshmen who are new and need to play and get to know ppl, lots of frats house and restaurants

  • con: hella expensive, lots of fancy buildings that charge >$800-$1000 or more for a single room. not a lot of them are furnished or include utilities. they charge for parking ($80-100 a month) you basically pay for the locations. other options other than off-campus apts in West Campus are dorms and co-ops. you can Google those. if you want to save money in West campus, then you need to share a room

2/ Far West: a bit further than West Campus but close enough, you can walk (take longer) or take the shuttle, it’s cheaper, not fancy buildings,more apartments. lots of graduate students stay here because it’s cheaper and still close enough. if you look carefully enough, you can get a room with your own bathroom for $600 in Far West, some apts pay for utilities or include parking spot so you save money on that too

3/ North Campus: another area close to the school but cheaper than West Campus. a lot less quiet and rowdy than West campus, graduate students generally stay here for the cheaper price, close enough location and quietness, no big complex, just small,old apts that work for lots of ppl. you can take the shuttle to go to school as well.

4/ Riverside: the cheapest and the farthest area from school. it’s on the other side of the highway so traffic can be bad during rush hour. they do have shuttles that run frequently. i’ve seen rents as low as $550 for a room/a bathroom with everything included (parking and furniture too). you get a lot more for your money but the area around Riverside is sketchy tho there’s a grocery store nearby. if you have a car,it’s good. if you’re a freshman with no car, not a good idea. if your budget is tied, then Riverside is a good options. i’ve heard things about crimes and stuffs but i still see a lot of students live there so it’s really up to you

Meiliu has pretty much concluded everything, just pointing a few things out:

-If you love to socialize and can afford $1000+ rent, definitely go to West campus
-If you want a quiet place but still can afford around $1000 rent, there are some very nice apts in the North campus within walking distance to campus (mostly still have shuttle if you like)
-If your budget is around $600 and want a quiet place but don’t care about the distance, you can either choose the apts that are farther in North campus or go to Far West
-If your budget is around $400 and don’t care about the environment or traffic, Riverside is your option.

Son that just finished his freshman year is living in West Campus his sophomore year and the only way to make it affordable is by sharing with 3 other roommates and splitting the $1995 monthly rent by 4. This does not include bills like electricity and internet. Their place is in a desirable area (around 25th/Rio Grande) but the condo complex was built in the 1970’s so cheaper than the newer construction. Their 2 bedroom/2 bath around 1100 square feet is large enough for 4 to share. But they had to sign their lease last October because apparently the better places lease quickly. Keep in mind that an off campus lease will require a 12 month lease. Hopefully my son can pay 12 months of rent, bills and feed himself for about the same amount paid for his freshman year (fall/spring semester at Jester West, community bath), $800 month for 12 months. If OP is a freshman and prefers a private dorm with a meal plan, I believe some of the older private dorms like Dobie, Castilian and University Towers (all top dollar when I was a student over 30 years ago) are now cheaper or not much more expensive than the University owned cheaper dorms like Jester. I don’t know if any of these have availability this late and I only personally toured Dobie last Spring but at the time it was cheaper than Jester West community bath. My son did not want to stay off campus though.