Urbana-Champaign, IL

[katcherintherye]

Sorry, if this post is digressing. Anyone headed to UIUC this Fall?

 

I just accepted my offer today - Neuroscience PhD - so I will be there!

[macmurfy]

For peeps attending the AuD (2019) program at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, join the facebook group:

UIUC AuD 2019

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1650276941873150/

[Gusvalo]

Bumping this thread. Apparently the best cost-effective option to live in Champaign-Urbana is to find one or more roommates. Anyone can provide input on how roommate matching services work? (particularly, I'm considering ONE North & South as I haven't found places with a similar service yet).

 

 I will be moving from overseas so I must trust blindly in the quality of the place and the company.

Alternatively, if you're living in or moving to the area and looking for someone to share a place feel free to PM me.

[macmurfy]

Bumping this thread. Apparently the best cost-effective option to live in Champaign-Urbana is to find one or more roommates. Anyone can provide input on how roommate matching services work? (particularly, I'm considering ONE North & South as I haven't found places with a similar service yet).

 

 I will be moving from overseas so I must trust blindly in the quality of the place and the company.

Alternatively, if you're living in or moving to the area and looking for someone to share a place feel free to PM me.

Hi there  

 

I'm moving to Illinois from out-of-state, but that isn't nearly as stressful as moving from out-of-country!

 

The best resource is going to be the Tenant Union  http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/index.asp (<--- main site) and the page to request information   http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/requestinfo.aspx  (<--- also for internation students). You may have to copy/paste the links. I would explore the main site for questions you might have and other links they provide.

 

For roommate, some of the apartments have a matching service, but not all of them. Maybe the tenant union could answer that in an email?

 

I hope this helps, and I hope your move is successful! Best of luck

[Gusvalo]

Hi there

 

I'm moving to Illinois from out-of-state, but that isn't nearly as stressful as moving from out-of-country!

 

The best resource is going to be the Tenant Union  http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/index.asp (<--- main site) and the page to request information   http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/requestinfo.aspx  (<--- also for internation students). You may have to copy/paste the links. I would explore the main site for questions you might have and other links they provide.

 

For roommate, some of the apartments have a matching service, but not all of them. Maybe the tenant union could answer that in an email?

 

I hope this helps, and I hope your move is successful! Best of luck

Thanks, I already asked for the list of landlords and after selecting my options will ask about specifics.

[beefgallo]

Also going to UIUC, from overseas.

[nahis]

Also moving from overseas to UIUC, probably in early August. Looking for a roommate now, if anyone's interested feel free to PM me!  

[erfan453]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm moving to UIUC as a graduate student, and I was wondering if anyone has info on apartments such as Advantage property, Smith, One-Illinois and Capstone-quarters. which one do you think is better and more cost effective for a graduate student.

 

Thanks

[ajcastrog]

Moving from another country to UIUC to start on the Spring Semester for graduate studies. A couple of questions come to mind:

Any opinion on the city? What neighborhood or area do you recommend living in? Are people nice? I am 29 years old, is there a lot of people on my age range or mainly undergrads and older people? Is it close enough to Chicago to do a weekend or a couple of days getaway in the big city?

Thanks for your help guys

[katcherintherye]

54 minutes ago, ajcastrog said:

Moving from another country to UIUC to start on the Spring Semester for graduate studies. A couple of questions come to mind:

Any opinion on the city? What neighborhood or area do you recommend living in? Are people nice? I am 29 years old, is there a lot of people on my age range or mainly undergrads and older people? Is it close enough to Chicago to do a weekend or a couple of days getaway in the big city?

Thanks for your help guys

Hey! So I'm a graduate student who just began this fall and I feel as though I can at least answer some of your questions!

1. I think the city is great. Then again, I'm from a small town so I'm used to the atmosphere. There always seems to be something going on, though, which is nice! And there's a decent bar scene in downtown Champaign to keep yourself entertained. I haven't had much time/money to try out any local restaurants, so I can only tell you that the grocery store situation is good as well - there are plenty of options, from big box grocery stores (i.e. Walmart, Meijer, etc) to smaller, local, and even specialty grocery stores.

2. If it's just you, I recommend sticking to the outer perimeter of campus, but try to find something on or close to a bus line (Check out cumtd.com to find out more about the buses). If money isn't a concern, then you will be able to fork over some cash for a parking pass (~$600) for your car - otherwise, the bus system is good enough to get you where you need to go. I live in Champaign and I love it - I am walking distance to downtown and right off of a major bus route. But I do know a lot of graduate students live in Urbana, as well. I think it really depends on what you can afford.

3. The people seem nice. I haven't had any issues yet. We're in the midwest, which is known for it's small-town charm and friendly people.

4. I'm 25 and I'm in the middle range of most of the people I know - however, that's because most of the people I know are new graduate students, as well. There are plenty of graduate students (therefore your age range) at this university, but there is also a very large undergraduate population. You will learn that there are undergrad hangouts and grad/young adult hangouts, so there is very little to worry about in terms of finding people around your age to associate with.

5. You will be about 2.5-3 hours drive to downtown Chicago, so it is definitely do-able in terms of a weekend getaway.

Let me know if you have any other questions! And good luck!

[Bikina]

1 hour ago, ajcastrog said:

Moving from another country to UIUC to start on the Spring Semester for graduate studies. A couple of questions come to mind:

Any opinion on the city? What neighborhood or area do you recommend living in? Are people nice? I am 29 years old, is there a lot of people on my age range or mainly undergrads and older people? Is it close enough to Chicago to do a weekend or a couple of days getaway in the big city?

Thanks for your help guys

When I first got here I thought it was very small, but that's because I was comparing it to all the cities I've lived in before. Compared to other college towns I think U-C is pretty nice. 

http://www.dailyillini.com/article/2014/10/champaign-urbana-ranked-7th-in-top-college-towns

As for the neighborhoods, I like Urbana better than Champaign. I live close to downtown Urbana and it's very nice and pretty quiet, and also close to campus. But that's just my personal opinion. 

I think you'll meet very nice people here, but I think you can meet nice people everywhere!   Well, undergrads are definitely younger than 29, and I'd say most grad students are too, but I've met quite a lot of people in their late 20s or even older as well, so that shouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't say we're a majority, but we're not a rare species either!

Chicago is pretty close (2 hours and 30 min. drive) so it is definitely possible to go there in the weekends.

Saludos!

[eggfish]

On 03/01/2012 at 3:13 PM, RThomas said:

St. Louis is also probably closer than you think at about a 4.5 hour drive

I drove from St. Louis to UIUC last week, and it took about half that time.

[UrbanMidwest]

I'll be in the MSW program - their Outreach Program which is mostly online, to be exact - so I'll be staying put in Chicago until Jan. 2018 when it's mandatory to be on-campus for a single semester.

[Donny_D]

question for the ex or current chambanians. How far does the 18k per 9/10 months get you in these parts?

[Donny_D]

23 hours ago, Character Zero said:

Hi there!

Former Illini here. Champaign and Urbana are both relatively cheap places to live. You can find a decent apartment from $400-500 per month on up, even less depending on roommates, area, etc. Also, if you don't have a 12-month lease and are planning to be there over the summer, you can get a room dirt cheap because students will sublet at very low prices. Buses run frequently to/from campus and biking is common if you live off-campus. Most grocery stores are off-campus (County Market is probably the closest on-campus store) but your standard options are there if you have transportation. 

Make sure you are familiar with the area before you sign a lease--there are some areas in both Champaign and Urbana you want to avoid. In general, anything moving directly west (or southwest) of campus in Champaign is okay. In Urbana, Historic West Urbana is probably the nicest area to live--quiet cobblestone streets with big houses close to campus. A lot of faculty live there. Most of the not-so-great areas are farther north, although there are pockets or complexes here and there that are okay. Definitely avoid the area just north of Bradley in Champaign. Too far east (from around Philo onward) or north in Urbana generally aren't great either. 

Good luck! 

thanks so much

[IcedCapp]

Has anybody moved to Champagne-Urbana from a big city? Do you like it? I'm considering taking the offer and moving to Champagne-Urbana, but I do have a concern other than school. I've never lived in a small city/town. My hometown and the cities I had lived in are all very large, vibrant and international cities. I DO like the atmosphere of small cities and towns (relaxing lifestyles and friendly people), but most of my experiences staying in such places were during travels. I'm accepted by a great PhD program at UIUC and I know it's a long journey. It would be very helpful if I can hear some comments from people who have the same experience.

[DiscoTech]

5 hours ago, IcedCapp said:

Has anybody moved to Champagne-Urbana from a big city? Do you like it? I'm considering taking the offer and moving to Champagne-Urbana, but I do have a concern other than school. I've never lived in a small city/town. My hometown and the cities I had lived in are all very large, vibrant and international cities. I DO like the atmosphere of small cities and towns (relaxing lifestyles and friendly people), but most of my experiences staying in such places were during travels. I'm accepted by a great PhD program at UIUC and I know it's a long journey. It would be very helpful if I can hear some comments from people who have the same experience.

I moved from a big city to a campus town like CU, but can't  comment on CU in particular. When making a similar decision, I tried to figure out what features I want in any place I lived and match those against my middle of nowhere university. A lot of things that were essential to me - competitive ultimate, live music, varied ethnic cuisine - I had no trouble finding. Higher end culture (museums, concerts, plays) and cuisine were non-existent. But knowing that this stuff was less important to me made the decision easy. 

Also, small town niceness is a crock. The facade often masks some real ugliness. But in a superficial sense, it is pleasant.

[IcedCapp]

On 2/16/2017 at 7:37 AM, DiscoTech said:

I moved from a big city to a campus town like CU, but can't  comment on CU in particular. When making a similar decision, I tried to figure out what features I want in any place I lived and match those against my middle of nowhere university. A lot of things that were essential to me - competitive ultimate, live music, varied ethnic cuisine - I had no trouble finding. Higher end culture (museums, concerts, plays) and cuisine were non-existent. But knowing that this stuff was less important to me made the decision easy. 

Also, small town niceness is a crock. The facade often masks some real ugliness. But in a superficial sense, it is pleasant.

Thanks @DiscoTech! That helps! I'm making a list of those features that are important to me and trying to match it with CU.

    Most important features: the program itself (very good) and the security issue(?);

    Quite important features: climate (nice), living expenses (?), public transport (seems nice), political atmosphere(? I care about this quite a bit as an international student, minority and female);

    Less important features: cafes and restaurants(?), museums and cultural activities(?)

I need to do more research on the features I marked "?" about CU. Welcome to comment on these if anybody knows anything! Thanks very much!

[krystasonrisa]

On 2/17/2017 at 0:01 AM, IcedCapp said:

Thanks @DiscoTech! That helps! I'm making a list of those features that are important to me and trying to match it with CU.

    Most important features: the program itself (very good) and the security issue(?);

    Quite important features: climate (nice), living expenses (?), public transport (seems nice), political atmosphere(? I care about this quite a bit as an international student, minority and female);

    Less important features: cafes and restaurants(?), museums and cultural activities(?)

I need to do more research on the features I marked "?" about CU. Welcome to comment on these if anybody knows anything! Thanks very much!

I would very much recommend being in and around Urbana most of the time. The political atmosphere is very middle class liberal. 

 

I think it is expensive to live here, but mostly just the housing. It's very hard to live independently. One bedroom apartments are minimum $60. Public transport is a gem, except it's v political and some routes are more accessible than others and you'll notice quickly. I love my neighborhood, but it's not as accessible as it could be. 

 

Cafes and restaurants ants are perfectly varied for every price point. You can literally eat anything here. And it's probably delivered, too. 

 

There are great parks in the area, but I'd go to St. Louis or Chicago for museums and cultural activities. In the summer there is a lot of great live music, and occasionally Krannert will bring really great acts to campus. But for high culture, you'll need a bigger metropolis. CU is just two small towns squished together and you can tell. 

 

Yes, there are definitely all for seasons, and this year is mild, but it can be brutal in the winter a n d summer. I don't really like it, but I'm biased against the Midwest because I'm bored and tired of it. (Sorry, Midwest.) You can find some natural beauty in the parks but also its flat. Good luck!

[IcedCapp]

8 hours ago, krystasonrisa said:

I would very much recommend being in and around Urbana most of the time. The political atmosphere is very middle class liberal. 

 

I think it is expensive to live here, but mostly just the housing. It's very hard to live independently. One bedroom apartments are minimum $60. Public transport is a gem, except it's v political and some routes are more accessible than others and you'll notice quickly. I love my neighborhood, but it's not as accessible as it could be. 

 

Cafes and restaurants ants are perfectly varied for every price point. You can literally eat anything here. And it's probably delivered, too. 

 

There are great parks in the area, but I'd go to St. Louis or Chicago for museums and cultural activities. In the summer there is a lot of great live music, and occasionally Krannert will bring really great acts to campus. But for high culture, you'll need a bigger metropolis. CU is just two small towns squished together and you can tell. 

 

Yes, there are definitely all for seasons, and this year is mild, but it can be brutal in the winter a n d summer. I don't really like it, but I'm biased against the Midwest because I'm bored and tired of it. (Sorry, Midwest.) You can find some natural beauty in the parks but also its flat. Good luck!

Thanks very much @krystasonrisa! Urbana does sound a better place for me to live (checked a lot of info and most peeps recommend Urbana)! Safety is my priority when looking for an apartment. Just wondering is it too late to look for and sign an apartment in August? Since I'm an international student and I'm not likely to visit CU any time earlier than August. 

Thanks again!

[krystasonrisa]

14 minutes ago, IcedCapp said:

Thanks very much @krystasonrisa! Urbana does sound a better place for me to live (checked a lot of info and most peeps recommend Urbana)! Safety is my priority when looking for an apartment. Just wondering is it too late to look for and sign an apartment in August? Since I'm an international student and I'm not likely to visit CU any time earlier than August. 

Thanks again!

About safety- You're going to see/hear people identify East Urbana and North Champaign as "dangerous," but they're not dangerous, just poor and mostly Black/Latinx. Statistically, the most dangerous place in CU is the Champaign side of campus. I don't have exact numbers, but every time there's an incident, it seems to be around W Green St. 

That said, East Urbana and North Champaign are the least accessible areas by public transportation. (Who could have guessed.) So for that reason only, I would not recommend an apartment in those areas.

There is an abundance of apartments, so I wouldn't be worried. Subleasers are everywhere, too. I have a great 1BR on a bus line (15 min to campus) I'll be subleasing around that time.  Feel free to message me if you have any other questions! 

[Entangled Phantoms]

2 hours ago, krystasonrisa said:

About safety- You're going to see/hear people identify East Urbana and North Champaign as "dangerous," but they're not dangerous, just poor and mostly Black/Latinx. Statistically, the most dangerous place in CU is the Champaign side of campus. I don't have exact numbers, but every time there's an incident, it seems to be around W Green St. 

That said, East Urbana and North Champaign are the least accessible areas by public transportation. (Who could have guessed.) So for that reason only, I would not recommend an apartment in those areas.

There is an abundance of apartments, so I wouldn't be worried. Subleasers are everywhere, too. I have a great 1BR on a bus line (15 min to campus) I'll be subleasing around that time.  Feel free to message me if you have any other questions! 

Good ol' Midwestern code. 

Edited February 21, 2017 by Entangled Phantoms

[sqxz]

On 2/15/2017 at 11:37 AM, IcedCapp said:

Has anybody moved to Champagne-Urbana from a big city? Do you like it? I'm considering taking the offer and moving to Champagne-Urbana, but I do have a concern other than school. I've never lived in a small city/town. My hometown and the cities I had lived in are all very large, vibrant and international cities. I DO like the atmosphere of small cities and towns (relaxing lifestyles and friendly people), but most of my experiences staying in such places were during travels. I'm accepted by a great PhD program at UIUC and I know it's a long journey. It would be very helpful if I can hear some comments from people who have the same experience.

On 2/17/2017 at 0:01 AM, IcedCapp said:

Thanks @DiscoTech! That helps! I'm making a list of those features that are important to me and trying to match it with CU.

    Most important features: the program itself (very good) and the security issue(?);

    Quite important features: climate (nice), living expenses (?), public transport (seems nice), political atmosphere(? I care about this quite a bit as an international student, minority and female);

    Less important features: cafes and restaurants(?), museums and cultural activities(?)

I need to do more research on the features I marked "?" about CU. Welcome to comment on these if anybody knows anything! Thanks very much!

 

6 hours ago, IcedCapp said:

Thanks very much @krystasonrisa! Urbana does sound a better place for me to live (checked a lot of info and most peeps recommend Urbana)! Safety is my priority when looking for an apartment. Just wondering is it too late to look for and sign an apartment in August? Since I'm an international student and I'm not likely to visit CU any time earlier than August. 

Thanks again!

I lived in Minneapolis for my undergrad, and I do like living in Champaign-Urbana. I have heard Champaign-Urbana described as "micro-urban," and I would agree with that characterization. You can find almost all of the same things that can be found in big cities...there are just fewer of them and with less variety in Champaign-Urbana.

For security, you can take a look at this map (https://www.crimereports.com/home/#!/dashboard?lat=40.1117&lng=-88.2073&zoom=13&searchText=Urbana%2C%20Illinois%2C%20United%20States&incident_types=Assault%2CAssault%20with%20Deadly%20Weapon%2CBreaking%20%26%20Entering%2CDisorder%2CDrugs%2CHomicide%2CKidnapping%2CLiquor%2COther%20Sexual%20Offense%2CProperty%20Crime%2CProperty%20Crime%20Commercial%2CProperty%20Crime%20Residential%2CQuality%20of%20Life%2CRobbery%2CSexual%20Assault%2CSexual%20Offense%2CTheft%2CTheft%20from%20Vehicle%2CTheft%20of%20Vehicle&start_date=2016-08-25&end_date=2017-02-21&days=sunday%2Cmonday%2Ctuesday%2Cwednesday%2Cthursday%2Cfriday%2Csaturday&start_time=0&end_time=23&include_sex_offenders=false&current_tab=map&shapeIds=). The University sends students an email whenever a serious crime occurs on campus or in its immediate vicinity. If you go solely by those emails, you'd think that practically all crime occurs in Champaign right near the university. However, as you can see from this map, crime is spread throughout the cities. Having said that, I do consider Champaign-Urbana safe cities in which to live, certainly more so than big cities.

Compared to other places around the country, Champaign-Urbana is quite a cheap place to live, especially if you're coming from a large city (http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/). However, your level of financial comfort is going to be determined by your stipend. When I first moved here, I made $24,720/year, and I was able to live comfortably without roommates. There are some programs with higher stipends than mine (e.g., Biochemistry, Computer Science), but most are lower, which may make it necessary to live with roommates. Contrary to what krystasonrisa said, I have never seen an apartment for $60/month, let alone a one-bedroom apartment. In my experience, most one-bedroom apartments near campus are going to be $500-$700/month, but this may get cheaper as you get farther away from campus, depending on what you're looking for.

If you ever talk to a civil engineer about MTD, they will boast that it's one of the best public transit systems in the nation. In my experience, it's no better than Minneapolis's, which is pretty good.

Champaign-Urbana, especially the university, is pretty liberal.

There are lots of great cafes and restaurants in Champaign-Urbana. You should have no trouble there, unless you're looking for something very specific.

We have a few museums that are worth going to at least once (e.g., Krannert Art Museum, Champaign County Historical Museum), but there are definitely not enough to fulfill a person for the length of an entire graduate degree. Thankfully, Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis are all within a three hour drive, and at least one city (Chicago) is accessible via bus/train. (The others may be too, but I've never looked into it.)

In my opinion, you should not wait until August to sign a lease. You will definitely still be able to find an apartment at that time, but it will be an apartment that almost everyone else who has looked has passed over. If you're not picky, that may be fine. Otherwise, probably not so much. When I first moved here, I leased my apartment sight unseen because I also was not able to visit until August. This worked for me because I asked a ton of questions and had the leasing agent take a ton of pictures of the apartment for me. It was still nerve-racking not having actually seen or smelled (I am highly sensitive to cigarette smoke) the apartment for myself, but it can be done if you're careful.

[feyfatale]

@IcedCapp Congrats on the offer! As an international student who came from a city very much like yours and never lived in a small town before moving to CU, I have to say I didn't really like living there. I found it quite boring, and the city didn't grow on me throughout the few years I spend there at all. To me, living in a place with a lot of cultural activities, which is nonexistent in CU, is very important. Also, I was in a social science department and CU is an extremely engineering oriented place, and there wasn't a lot of exciting activities for us. That being said, I did meet a lot of people who enjoyed CU for different reasons.

Climate is very unpredictable in CU, and the winters are very rough. However, that really depends on the climate you are used to. In my city, below 0 C is rare, and it only snows 2-3 times in winters, so I found CU winters very hard to cope with. Other than the winters, summers are too hot, but the fall is very nice and it lasts long. Public transportation is really nice, if you choose your neighborhood wisely, you can actually rely on buses to go to class. I also really enjoyed the Amtrak rides to Chicago (which takes two and a half hours on average), and I went to the city for daily trips or for weekends frequently.

Political atmosphere is an important criteria for me as well, and like climate, what you are already used to matters a lot. It is not nonexistent, but as someone who came from a university with an active political life, I found CU and the campus quite disappointing. Undergrad involvement in political activities is low, and that makes a difference.

You hear about security a lot before going there, but I didn't experience anything bad. I lived in a few neighborhoods in Champaign, and I love the West Champaign area outside the campus best (south/west from Champaign Public Library, which is also a good study spot). It is a quiet area mostly occupied by grad students. Also, if you contact the tenant union, they send you a list of all the landlords with complaint records (https://tenantunion.illinois.edu/lookinghousing.asp) which I found very helpful. Overall, CU isn't an expensive place, but housing can be a problem. I recommend you to stay away on-campus apartments in Champaign, they tend to be small and overpriced. 

I will be happy to answer if you have more questions!

 

 

[rheya19]

On 2/15/2017 at 11:37 AM, IcedCapp said:

Has anybody moved to Champagne-Urbana from a big city? Do you like it? I'm considering taking the offer and moving to Champagne-Urbana, but I do have a concern other than school. I've never lived in a small city/town. My hometown and the cities I had lived in are all very large, vibrant and international cities. I DO like the atmosphere of small cities and towns (relaxing lifestyles and friendly people), but most of my experiences staying in such places were during travels. I'm accepted by a great PhD program at UIUC and I know it's a long journey. It would be very helpful if I can hear some comments from people who have the same experience.

My husband and I moved here from Chicago, and like @feyfatale, we've been very underwhelmed by our experience here. Not a ton to do, the local people tend to keep to themselves, so the only real social scene is on campus. There are some good microbreweries, and the Krannert Center hosts interesting concerts, but that's it. The restaurant options aren't great (though getting a little bit better). You have to drive a ways to find non-cornfield nature. After a school year, you've seen everything there is to be seen here. The upside is that you will get a lot of work done. Think of it as a place where you can focus fully on your work and get your PhD done faster. IMHO