blue2233

I am a current MFA student (applying to CW PhD's this cycle) and my program didn't do much to help us find housing, but they had a housing guide/pamphlet with info about where students often chose to live and some advice. What was most helpful was asking to speak with current students and getting their advice (especially since I was moving without being able to visit at all first/check out apartments in person). I joined the school's facebook page and found roommates that way, so I ended up renting a house (surprisingly way cheaper than apartments in the area, definitely a good idea to look into various types of housing) with a grad student from my program and a grad student in a completely different program. I don't have any outside help, but I've still found the stipend to be manageable for me because of a few reasons. I live with roommates so my rent is relatively low, I babysit enough to cover groceries most months and taught an additional course one semester when it was offered (extra couple thousand which was huge!), I work over the summers, I budget carefully/use coupons, and I am lucky enough to have few major expenses (no children/dependents, few student loans, etc.). I am fortunate that the stipend at my school is relatively high in comparison to cost of living, though I know some people still find it difficult for various reasons and it is definitely still below the poverty line for the area technically. Through odd jobs and careful saving I've managed to buy a used car, almost pay off my student debt, and put a tiny bit in savings. I just want to say that to give you hope that it is more manageable than it may seem! Of course, every area/stipend is different, and everyone's life circumstances too.