I've been accepted to Columbia College and it looks like my cat and I will be relocating in August. I've been doing some looking and it looks like the most contentious thing will be finding a place to put my car. Most of the cheaper places I've found don't mention anything about parking (which I assume means it's on the street if I can find it.)
I'm also wondering how long a commute from the near west side (which is the general area I've decided on) to Columbia's campus would be, via the El. I have a sister in the area, but since she's an undergrad at Wheaton and lives on campus, she hasn't been a lot of help.