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I am not sure if this helps but a friend of mine grew up in the area and then left after college. When she came back 10 years later the area still much the same. I would not expect much change in the 4 years your daughter attends college in Troy. There is simply not much going in the area. The main ones already have been mentioned and the GF event is HUGE!
Also, the Albany nanotech funding is mainly coming from NYS and when the funds run out the companies will go elsewhere. There have been talks within Albany nanotech about companies leaving when the NYS incentives go away, which is just a matter of time. That's why we haven't seem much growth in the region. The companies are simply not investing for the long run. Just my two cents...
Then, explain the 4% population growth and the 6.6% unemployment rate for the metro area?
Then, explain the 4% population growth and the 6.6% unemployment rate for the metro area?
Government jobs: more than 25% of the people living in the Capital region work for the goverment. Also, there are many university jobs but good long-term high paying jobs (private companies working within Albany Nanotech private companies which could actually help develop the area) are very few.
Government jobs: more than 25% of the people living in the Capital region work for the goverment. Also, there are many university jobs but good long-term high paying jobs (private companies working within Albany Nanotech private companies which could actually help develop the area) are very few.
Of course that is going to be the case with metros that revolve around a capital city. Just look at Austin, Columbus, Madison and even cities/areas like Boston and the Twin Cities to some degree. With that said, even those metros, including Albany, have more private companies than many think. This website has some examples if you look at the Capital Region: Central New York Jobs
100% agree with Sunset, we moved up from the NYC burbs 5 Years ago, the workforce is not the same, with employers paying subpar wages, just a bit slow on the rebound up here. Lot of retired teachers, and other well payed retired civil servants as well as current State Employement and other CSEA types jobs. After that its simply low wages. Employement adds for 4 year College grads are in the 30K range, Albany = Smallbany.
Im not looking for MASSIVE transformations, just little things. And it will be over 6 years not 4, as she is doing a 5 year degree, and is on a gap year now.
I have some hints of things I will post seperate threads on.
100% agree with Sunset, we moved up from the NYC burbs 5 Years ago, the workforce is not the same, with employers paying subpar wages, just a bit slow on the rebound up here. Lot of retired teachers, and other well payed retired civil servants as well as current State Employement and other CSEA types jobs. After that its simply low wages. Employement adds for 4 year College grads are in the 30K range, Albany = Smallbany.
Cost of living is lower too. So, it doesn't surprise me if the wages are a bit lower. I guess healthcare, GE, Lockheed Martin, the public and private universities and the many smaller and medium sized companies, which makes up the majority of the workforce in the country anyways, doesn't count either. Besides Ithaca, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area has the lowest unemployment rate than any other metro in the state.
I'm not from Albany (I live in Westchester) but I'm becoming something of an Albany-area "fan" from the times I've visited it recently, and from fantasizing about a lower cost of living than I have downstate, while still being within 3-hours of NYC. So, I'm surprised and upset to see all the negativity in the responses to your perfectly nice question. This outsider, at least, thinks the Capital Area has a lot going for it. My responses to your original question would be as follows.
1. The Lark Street area of Albany is wonderful, it feels like a little slice of Brownstone Brooklyn at about 1/10 the cost. It has to be one of the most "urban" (in the good sense of the word) areas in any small city in the United States.
2. Downtown Albany is getting condos. As you know, downtown condos are the first step towards a true renaissance.
3. The Colonie Center is just a suburban shopping mall, but it's a newly redesigned, really nice suburban shopping mall with a huge LL Bean Store, pretty rare to find.
4. Albany is getting serious about building a convention center downtown. That should further spur downtown revitalization.
I've read your original question and the replies, and I guess I'm still confused about your question. Are you worried about your daughter's safety? Looking for a funky, student-oriented neighborhood? Things to do that are beyond movies, plays & lectures? Or is it more that you are worrying about her chance to do internships and get practical experience while she is at RPI?
Much of what people are reporting to you - chip fab, Nano Tech, etc. - wouldn't be of much interest to an undergrad spending a few years here unles they are looking for internship possibilities. Even if they have a major effect on the economy, the effect on undergrads will be negligible.
Are you worried that she will be bored? Or that she will miss big city living? Those are two different things. I have a colleague who lives in Troy, and her son went to RPI. (He is now working in Silicon Valley.) Although he went to undergrad in his hometown, I think he found RPI a very different experience than just living in Troy. There is a sizable contingent of Capital Region students at the school, but, as you know, students also come from all over the country and the world there, which leads to a different feel on campus than in the city. He was always busy with school work, social life, outdoors clubs and more on campus.
If the school has the program she wants, I wouldn't worry so much about the area. I do sometimes see groups of new students being led around town by older students during orientation time. Encourge her to participate and not to be afraid to venture downtown. It seems some RPI students are, but the area is generally very safe. If she grew up in DC, she will be fine in Troy. Russell Sage College is downtown. Although small, it has some interesting programs on campus that have a different bent than the engineering focus of RPI. For instance, they have just forged a partnership with the Underground Railroad Workshop of the Capital Region.
I don't know if you went to college, but if you did, think about how little most students were really integrated with the town they were located in. I went to school in Boston, and even there, we mostly stuck to our campus and other campuses in the area. I remember taking long bike rides and visiting the public library just to see some little kids, old people, and "normal" life. Most campuses are an island unto themselves.
I went to school in Boston, and the city WAS important for me. In many ways, from volunteer opportunities, to museums, to places to go out to eat, to just interesting places to walk.
My OP was not about safety - if so it would have been focused on Troy, not the capital district. its not about internships - the archies get internships in the summer in NYC or elsewhere, and they dont have time for them during the semester.
Its about big city living. And yeah, we all know that capital district isnt that - she chose RPI for the school and the program. OTOH capital district isnt some small town in Iowa EITHER - it has SOME urban amenities. It would be nice to see if its getting any more.
And its not that Im "worried" She will do just fine I am sure if there are NO new urban amenties in the region - I know she will busy with her program, and when she is not, there are the outdoor possibilities in NYS, and in nearby parts of Mass and Vermont. And if she truely hungers for urban experience (she IS going to be an Arch student after all) its not THAT far to either NYC, Boston, or Montreal.
But I thought, since I am on CD, and this forum is here, it might be an interesting thing to ask about.
I remain befuddled why a question is so often interpreted as a "worry" Was my OP really so opaque?
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