State College, PA

[ScienceGiraffe]

anyone going to Penn State this year? can anyone suggest me any good appartments? i am looking for some one bed room or studio...

[diamedic17]

Hey,

 

I applied to the BMMB program and interviewed.  My only issue with PSU is that my wife is a nurse practitioner and would have a hard time finding a job.  Would anyone be able to give me some information on the job outlook for a nurse practitioner in State College and the surrounding areas?

[geitost]

How easy or difficult is it as a grad student (around 30) to meet other people of a similar age in State College? Of course I want to base my decision primarily on the quality of the program, but I have some concerns about social isolation...

[eaboo316]

Hey all~  Wanted to bring this thread back to life!  I am considering Penn State for graduate school, however I am curious as to whether the stipend they offered would suffice for living expenses?  I did get a much better stipend from another school that is in a pretty expensive area, however I heard rent is pretty expensive in State College as well.  Can anyone share their experiences or give input?  I know it is probably better to ask a graduate student, but visit weekend is not for awhile and this is a huge factor in my decision.  Thanks for any help!

[Sogni]

As everyone else has pretty much expressed, I'm going to Penn State in the Fall (YAY) and I'm starting to look for apartments. I was wondering if anyone could elaborate on some of their experiences with housing in the area (horror stories/dreams come true). Also, when (ideally) should I start to call people to secure an apartment for August? In other words, when is too late? 

 

I'd love to live in a one bedroom apartment within walking distance to campus without being constantly surrounded by undergrads if that helps. 

 

Thanks for any advice!!!

[poissono]

I'll be attending Penn State (!) as well and have similar questions as those posted above. However, I am more partial towards splitting a place. Any advice on ways of getting this done so I can have a good professional as well as social life?

[Joavi]

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look for a moderately priced 1 bed room apartment and what one might expect to pay for one this year? There seem to be a lot of complexes, but its hard to tell which are geared toward undergrads and which will be oriented toward grad / professionals.

[Sogni]

If you contact the people or company who own the complex they'll tell you whether or not they typically lease to undergraduate or graduate students. In many cases, they don't lease to undergraduates at all which is good to know 

[Deadmeat]

Did you find apartments? When I visited in Feb. there were almost no graduate/professional apartments left. I was lucky enough to snag 1 that was a bit pricey, but it's 2 blocks from campus and only for grad students.

 

I also heard to avoid anything owned by 'The Apartment Store' apparently they are the worst. 

[AcademicX]

Hi, I am strongly considering attending Penn State next fall. I've read that Park Forest is a good area for graduate students. I found this website http://www.apartmentsstatecollege.com/penn-state-housing/psu/Park-Forest-Apartments/id/47 which lists 1-bedroom apts for $705. Is that a good price for State College? What other areas would you recommend? Companies/websites I should look into?

Thanks in advance!

[Munashi]

I'll be making a move across country to State College this summer to start Penn State in the fall!  One thing I wonder, how do students get around during the winter with fresh snow on the ground?  Are the buses still running or are you forced to walk/drive yourself?

[mincer]

Hi guys, I'm a 25 year old man planning to attend grad school at Penn State. I'm an international student so I have no idea how life is like in US. So:

1) How much money should I expect to spend on food per month (range)?

2) Is it true that I have to rent an accommodation on-line as soon as possible since in the Fall it will be barely impossible?

[Munashi]

Hi guys, I'm a 25 year old man planning to attend grad school at Penn State. I'm an international student so I have no idea how life is like in US. So:

1) How much money should I expect to spend on food per month (range)?

2) Is it true that I have to rent an accommodation on-line as soon as possible since in the Fall it will be barely impossible?

 

Hi Mincer,

 

I am not sure how to answer your #1 question because food prices vary a lot in the US depending on where you live, and I have not lived in State College myself yet.  I'll be moving in the fall too!

EDIT: For food, I would estimate $250-$300 per month but you could certainly get by on less if you are careful.  Again, this depends on the area so I'm hoping a current student at Penn State can help with this question.

 

But for #2, it is true that you should start looking for a place to rent ASAP because things fill very quickly in State College.  It is a small town, mostly occupied by students who are also trying to rent apartments.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Munashi

[mincer]

Thank you, Munashi!

[juilletmercredi]

Just wanted to put the plug - I'll be doing a postdoc at Penn State starting in August (yay!) and I found an apartment.  I viewed 2 apartment buildings while I was there: Lion's Gate and Toftrees.  I intended to view a third, Nittany Gardens, but didn't get a chance to.  Caveat, I was only looking at places that allow dogs, because I'm planning to bring one.  I also was not interested in living walking distance from campus.

 

I visited Toftrees first.  It's very lovely; it's on the west side of campus and closer to the shopping centers and grocery stores.  It's about a 5-10 minute drive to campus depending on what side of campus you are trying to reach.  The apartments are lovely and actually look just like the pictures online, which is nice.  They're quite spacious and have good amenities, and are a decently reasonable price.  The weird thing is a one-bedroom costs about the same amount ($860-895) as a two-bedroom ($900-940).  Each apartment is located inside of a little building with 3-5 other apartments and a laundry room, so you only share your laundry with 3-5 other households (it was hard to estimate) and you don't have to go outside at all to do laundry, which is nice when it's rainy or cold.  They also have dishwashers!  And most units have walk-in closets.  Most units also have a small patio or balcony.

 

The leasing office staff were very very nice and seemed pleasant to work with, and the woman I worked with told me that they mostly lease to professionals and some graduate students (because of the distance from campus).  It was very quiet, very treed, and there are walking trails nearby.  I talked to a few people who had lived in Toftrees at some point during their graduate or professional career in State College and they all had good things to say.  That's the place I ended up going with.  They don't know their availability until about 4 months ahead, because they service mostly professionals, so they won't know their availability for August until early April.  They have a system in which you can get on their waiting list for $400 and you're first on the list to select a new apartment.  The $400 goes towards your first month's rent.  (But if you choose to rent with someone else, you lose the deposit, so you have to be sure you want to go with them).

 

Toftrees is also on the CATA bus line.  It's a little complicated but there's one bus that stops right by the complex and runs pretty frequently in the morning and another bus that's about a 5-minute walk to the stop but runs more regularly M-F.  It doesn't seem like an excellent place to live if you don't want to drive and/or don't expect to drive in most days, unless you have impeccable timing with the bus.

 

I visited Lion's Gate apartments next. That one's located on Waupelani, so the upside is that the buses are very regular - I actually took a bus to see the apartments and it was the simplest thing in the world.  There are three different lines that run down that street and stop at the stop right in front of the complex, so taking the bus every day is a simple thing.  On the other hand, though, as soon as I walked onto the place I knew I wouldn't live here.  The set-up of the "campus" is weird - the buildings look like college buildings with columns and plain brick, but there are very few trees and the whole thing is flat and kinda ugly.  The leasing office staff was also a little strange; the young woman who showed me around was a student at PSU and the person who looked like she was the full-time professional there ignored me until the student greeted me.

 

But the apartments were, quite frankly, not nice.  The one I was shown honestly looked like it hadn't been updated since the 1970s - old wood paneling with nicks in it, yellow appliances and linoleum in the kitchen and that scratchy old tan carpet you see in American Hustle.  I checked out the floor plans and apparently it's about the same size as the Toftrees apartments, but it looked a lot smaller.  They apparently have some updated units but they have built in desks, and have two desks built into the walls in a one-bedroom.  (That's another thing - I asked if it was mostly undergrads or grad/professionals and they said mostly grads/professionals, but looking at the location and spread I couldn't quite believe them, especially if they thought it was prudent to put two desks in a one-bedroom.)

 

Now maybe the unit they showed me to was just a particularly bad one, but it seems weird that that's what they would use.  Oh also, not every building has its own laundry, so sometimes you have to go outside to the next building to wash your clothes.

 

Nittany Gardens and I had a scheduling snafu (on my part) so I wasn't able to view the apartments - someone from the leasing office said they would send me pics, but they didn't.  However, I did walk around.  They're right across the street from Lion's Gate, so the same bus set up.  But the area, even though it was literally right across the street, was so much nicer!  The buildings didn't look as well-maintained as Toftrees (they're probably older) but still looked nice and similar in set-up, and all the apartments seemed to have balconies or patios.  There were also far more trees and it looked like more parking.  The pics on the website actually look pretty nice and I think that's from their model unit; they don't have a lot of information about floor plans or pricing online, though it seems they recently updated their website, so now you can see the pricing - and it's a little more than Toftrees ($950-970 for a one-bedroom, but it comes furnished).  They're also managed by the Apartment Store, which I've heard bad things about (particularly when moving out - apparently they attempt to nickel and dime you to charge you for things when you leave).  Finally, they had a more restrictive dog policy - 30 lbs.  Since I already liked Toftrees so much I just decided to go with them.

 

AS for food - when I was single in NYC I spent about $250/month on groceries and food.  NYC is way more expensive than State College, so I imagine you could probably get by on a little less.

[Targy]

Thanks, jullietmercredi! I was looking at Lion's Gate, but maybe I won't so much now. That was really helpful!

[Munashi]

Here is another "bill" question.  The place my S.O. and I are renting uses electric heat.  Pennsylvania gets cold.  Anyone know what the average monthly electric bill looks like in State College if you don't use gas heating?

[emms]

Munashi,

 

I live in State College and recently moved into an apartment with electric baseboard heat only. There is a thermostat in each room, running the heat very generously, our first bill was over $200 for a 2 bedroom apt. I do not think electric heat is common though. It was also a very cold month, meaning we had to run the heaters almost constantly. 

 

Also, there are many well connected bus routes, including 2 free routes that run on campus and downtown. Most of the time you can catch a bus for any route every 20 minutes during the week, and every 40-60 minutes on the weekend. The buses run much less during breaks though, but they will run all winter. Many people also choose to bike, even during the cold winter months.

Edited March 14, 2014 by emms

[emms]

I would expect to spend about $100-$200 a month on groceries for 1 person if you want to shop at Wegmans and Trader Joe's. If you shop at Walmart, Weis or Giant you can probably get by on less. 

[emms]

Johannes14,

 

Here a couple more local leasing companies with a lot of apartments:

 

Downtown: 

http://www.apartmentstore.com/

http://www.arpm.com/

 

North of campus:

http://locations.rentberger.com/vairovillage/

http://lionscrossing.com/

 

South of campus & downtown:

http://www.retreatstatecollege.com/index.php/prop/home

http://www.imperialtowers.net/

http://www.parkwayplaza.com/

http://www.statecollege.com/apartments/property/southgate-apartments,271/

 

Craigslist is also a good resource for finding short term housing in State College

[Munashi]

Munashi,

 

I live in State College and recently moved into an apartment with electric baseboard heat only. There is a thermostat in each room, running the heat very generously, our first bill was over $200 for a 2 bedroom apt. I do not think electric heat is common though. It was also a very cold month, meaning we had to run the heaters almost constantly. 

 

Also, there are many well connected bus routes, including 2 free routes that run on campus and downtown. Most of the time you can catch a bus for any route every 20 minutes during the week, and every 40-60 minutes on the weekend. The buses run much less during breaks though, but they will run all winter. Many people also choose to bike, even during the cold winter months.

 

Thanks for the info!  That's... markedly higher than what I pay now.  I know for a fact the apartment has electric heat, so I appreciate you giving some info on what to expect in the cold months!

[HDFStakeover]

I've been using craigslist to get an idea of how much it would cost to live alone or with roommates. I also use google maps to determine the distance between apartments and the university. You can also find out if there is a bus stop near by or the walking distance if possible.

[ADLinden]

Munashi,

 

I live in State College and recently moved into an apartment with electric baseboard heat only. There is a thermostat in each room, running the heat very generously, our first bill was over $200 for a 2 bedroom apt. I do not think electric heat is common though. It was also a very cold month, meaning we had to run the heaters almost constantly. 

 

Also, there are many well connected bus routes, including 2 free routes that run on campus and downtown. Most of the time you can catch a bus for any route every 20 minutes during the week, and every 40-60 minutes on the weekend. The buses run much less during breaks though, but they will run all winter. Many people also choose to bike, even during the cold winter months.

Was just going to say that this electric/heating bill is very similar to mine (I also have baseboard heating in a 2 bedroom apt. in a house), but I will add that my electric bill is dramatically lower in the summer. I think it has been around $15 in the past. So it evens out, but yes, the winters are tough.

Edited March 30, 2014 by ADLinden

[Sol Invictus]

Thanks HDFStakeover, that's a neat idea! Which program are you joining, if I may ask?

[HDFStakeover]

Human development and Family Studies (HDFS). Good luck in your search.