Looking for best big city to live in with a university and affordable housing?

I live in Washington State and want to move out of state to a big city with an affordable school and housing. Is this even possible?

Public Comments

1. I would look for schools that match what your educational goals are. Find programs/universities that have good departments for your major. You can limit that search to big cities and then pick and choose based on which looks most affordable. Be warned that, to qualify for in-state tuition, most states require you to live there for one year. Places I've heard that have good schools and are more affordable include: St. Paul/Minneapolis Austin, TX Chicago (some neighborhoods are more affordable than others) St. Louis
2. Jersey City, 10 min car ride to NYC (20 min ride by train), St Peter's college in the area and affordable housing. Check craigslist.org Good luck!
3. Housing in cites with universties is usually rather expensive (supply and demand), but you might try Baltimore. Housing is considerably cheaper there than in nearby Washington, DC, and there are several universities there or not far away. Johns Hopkins (which at the undergraduate level is a liberal arts school, not just a medical school) is the foremost one, but there are also several others in the city and suburbs, as well as the University of Maryland an easy commute away and several more universities in commuting distance in Washington.
4. Richmond VA. You can go to VCU, a big university. Cost of living isn't too bad and the student housing is actually nice! TONS of choices for majors too!
5. It depends what you find as affordable? You could live in Columbus Ohio and go to either Columbus State, Ohio State, Capital, Franklin, Ohio Dominican. You may think of Columbus as a cow town but it's really not that at all. It actually has more of a big city feel especially on campus. You can find a decent one bedroom close to campus for around $500 a month. Hopefully it'll help.
6. The answer is NOPE since you prefer schools outside of Washington State. No matter how small the university/college might be, you’ll be required to pay the out-of-state tuition, which cost a lot more than in-state tuition. If the money is the issue, then I’d start with schools in Washington State. Then transfer to another school after second year. However, you have to maintain your GPA in the higher brackets, at least 3.5 out of 4, to transfer to another school. The alternative to this option is going to the school of your choice, any of out-of-state schools. Then during summer vacations, take electives, like music and English classes, in the local (community) colleges in your hometown. (I’d recommend that you check with your school before you take any of elective classes from community colleges.) By doing so, you can save some money. Cost of living in the cities – it’ll be a shock. Most affordable places in the city will be the places you don’t want to venture out by yourself after dark. The “safe and fun” locations for college students will be a bit expensive for most college kids. However, you can always go outside of the city for housing (commute). ONE MORE THING… any major cities in the East Coast will be expensive.
7. Usually, the state universities and colleges in your own state are your least expensive options in terms of tuition dollars. Outside of your home state, in general and with some exceptions, the public universities and state colleges will still be your lower cost options. But don't disregard higher priced universities, as you may be able to get financial aid to help you out a bit. And if your grades and test scores are very high, there are some schools that are actually free or very low cost to attend. They include: The Cooper Union, in NYC Olin College, in Massachusetts (very near Boston) The Curtis Institute, in Philadelphia The Yale School of Music, in New Haven (not such a big city, but very urban) Of course, CU only offers art, architecture and engineering. Olin is only engineering. Curtis and Yale are both music. There are other schools that are free - the military academies, for example. The other option is to go any school that has a ROTC program. Then the military will pay for your studies - so long as you major in specific things, and join the military afterwards. You can also look at the College of the Ozarks. I understand that they make you work on campus in exchange for tuition. But that's not exactly in a major city. For schools that have lower cost tuitions, and which are in a big city where cost of living is reasonable... wow, I can't think of any with that specific combo. Well, maybe these, but the cities, relatively speaking, aren't very big: - U Nebraska Lincoln - Flagler College (St. Augustine, FL) - U Florida Gainesville - U Texas Austin - Arizona State, Tempe - College of Charleston - Florida State, Talahassee - Reed College, Portland, OR - Birmingham Southern College - Louisiana State, Baton Rouge - North Carolina State, Raleigh - Ramapo College of New Jersey (about 30 min from NYC) - Stamford U, Birmingham, AL And maybe to you some of these are big cities. If so, I'm sorry. I'm in NY, so these cities seem tiny to me! There are some I know of in big cities where the tuition is fairly low, but it's the cost of living - thing is, WA State is fairly cheap in comparison to most areas of the US, so I'm thinking most places will seem expensive. But let me give you those, anyway: - UMass Boston - CUNY Baruch - CUNY Hunter - CUNY Brooklyn - CUNY Queens - SUNY Stony Brook (close-ish to NYC) - UCLA - UC Berkeley - UC San Diego - U Chicago - Harvard University. They have an amazing tuition deal. But cost of living in some of those places is rather high. One that really might work for you is Rice U, in Houston, TX. Big city, good university, good value for the tuition, lowish cost of living. Some of these schools, btw, are on my list not because their sticker price tuition is low, but because they offer amazing financial aid, so are worth looking at. Harvard is an example of that.
8. Baltimore? Boston? I live in NY and there are some affordable suburban areas but practically none in the city and the schools aren't the greatest either. I think it really depends on where you want to go. Pick an urban area then research its benefits and drawbacks in the areas of housing and schools.