I left Fairbanks in 2004, but I doubt things have changed much in three years. There's five bus lines in Fairbanks (red, blue, purple, green and yellow) and two of them go to campus (red and blue). From UAF you can get to the grocery store via the bus (Fred Meyers or Safeway). You can also get to the movie theater. All the buses stop at the bus depot downtown. One line even goes to North Pole, which is south east of Fairbanks.
I would recommend taking the bus to the grocery store, and taking a cab ride home with your groceries. From the grocery stores on the west side of town, it's a six dollar cab ride to campus. Being able to haul more home at once is worth the fare. The buses are free during the winter, although when they start being free varies from year to year. I have, on rare occasions, walked to the grocery store from campus, although it's a bit far to do regularly.
The last bus runs around 7PM on weekdays, I'm not sure how late on Saturdays, and it doesn't run at all on Sundays.
I didn't have a car while living on campus, and did fine, although I also didn't have a job to get to off campus, at least during the school year. I imagine if you were working, the limited service would be a problem. Otherwise, the schedule should be adequate.
I would recommend NOT getting the meal plan. The food in the commons sucks, and the hours are limited. I regularly skipped meals because commons meals times conflicted with my class schedule.
The campus is situated on a hill. It's a steep climb up to the top via the stairs, or a long round-about way via one of the roads leading in. Many students complain about getting from place to place because the campus itself, and not just getting to it, is very hilly. I have taken the bus just to not climb up the hill, when right next to campus (but only when the bus was free, otherwise I'm too cheap).
The website for the bus system is:
FNSB | Transportation
I only lived on campus one year. The cost of living on campus, for me, was tuition, books, meal plan, and housing. Plus, they charged to stay on campus during winter break. They list that in the UAF manual. I didn't really spend much besides that. Most kids buy a computer, too (I was given one for free from a friend). I lived in the dorms in one of the two person rooms. $11,000 for a year for school and living was adequate. Keep in mind, this is for one person, and I didn't do much... I rarely left campus. Sometimes I went to the movies. During winter break, I did have to take the bus to get food. During the summer I bicycled to my job. If you plan to own a bicycle get a good lock, and use it. I left mine, unlocked, behind the movie theater and it was stolen.
I wouldn't recommend UAF, academically, from my experience as an undergraduate student. I attended on one year, off one year, then on one year. I majored in art, then switched to computer programming. I enjoy computer programming, but I was disappointed with the computer programming classes, as much of the material was a repeat of what was learned in the previous class. I took three semesters of computer science before I decided I'd had enough. I never graduated.
Their website is
University of Alaska Fairbanks
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Moving from Barrow to Fairbanks
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