Hi I am an undergrad at BU in art history and it is an amazing department, especially the Roman art specialist Fred Kleiner. He is a really well renown scholar and also one of my favorite professors/people in the department. All the grad students I've seen seem to be happy studying at BU and definitely have a really strong community amongst themselves. That said, Boston and BU especially is definitely an expensive place, although you can find cheap housing in Alston or Brighton, relatively close to BU's campus. You can message me if you want me to elaborate on anything.