Student Moving to Flagstaff - Advice?

[azdr0710]

have always thought people who get high are desperately insecure about something, thus the need to "escape" themselves.....but back to the thread.....

based on your other posts, Josh, Flag will probably be OK for you....there are all types up there - redneck, cowboy, freak, nerds, jocks, trust-funders, liberals, conservatives, drunk Natives, homeless, Phx summer visitors, tourists....

take a trip up there and look around...look for a "rooms for rent" board somewhere....see if there is a Housing office at the school....look in the papers....look at craigslist.....blah, blah......

several apt complexes west of NAU along University and environs....gotta ask around.....Sunnyside is the "slum" of Flag, but not horrible (hell, you can get a house there for less than $200K, barely)....gotta explore around....it's expensive for a reason!!!

[CCCVDUR]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

have always thought people who get high are desperately insecure about something, thus the need to "escape" themselves.....

I've thought that the issues with drug use / self-medication in high elevation towns (Flagstaff, Boulder, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Sedona, Colorado Springs, etc.) COULD be due to a failure of adaptation to high elevation - with resulting fatigue, insomnia, depression, anxiety, etc. I know that for me, driving from 1,000' in Phoenix to 7,000' in Flagstaff causes immediate fatigue / exhaustion upon arrival up here.

And, certainly Alternative Medicine and vitamins are very popular in these high elevation cities, and there are many schools of alternative medicine in these towns. Coincidence? I don't think so. What do you think? I take a lot of vitamins and it seems that the doses needed for the same effects are higher up here.

[CCCVDUR]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

....there are all types up there - redneck, cowboy, freak, nerds, jocks, trust-funders, liberals, conservatives, drunk Natives, homeless, Phx summer visitors, tourists....

Curious as to why people in person and on city-data always mention these "categories" when they refer to "the people" who "inhabit The City of Flagstaff." Everyone always refers to these same "categories" when discussing "who inhabits The City of Flagstaff." Strange because in every town I've lived in (Seattle, Albuquerque, Vegas, Santa Fe), these very same "categories" of "people" exist, yet are not emphasized like they always are in Flagstaff.

The other day, someone stated to me something very similar, that Flagstaff consisted of "good old boys and granola, with nobody in between." In the grocery store today, I tried to categorize people as either "rednecks" or "granola" and could not do so. Aren't we all Americans? I don't find these labels helpful on various city-data forums although I've used similar ones. And, I wouldn't want to be labeled a "redneck" because I do tune-ups on my vehicle. What is more useful is to find out about the economy, unemployment, and how easy it is w/ just a bachelors' to find a job and earn the median salary of ~$50,000. That is not easy in Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Sedona, Ashland (OR), or Boulder. I would not recommend that anyone ages 18-35 move to Flagstaff unless they are a NAU student or have a job lined up in advance....

Back to the thread, the author of this book for us struggling 18-35 year olds posting here was interviewed on 1510 KFNN:

Strapped by Tamara Draut

STRAPPED - WHY AMERICA'S 20 AND 30 SOMETHINGS
CAN'T GET AHEAD

Why is growing up so hard -- and terrifically expensive --
to do these days, and what can we do about it?

[falastudent]

YouTube - flagnet1's Channel

[carecare7]

Besides, Prescott is a retirement town so students (and anyone younger than 60) are NOT treated well. Same goes for Prescott Valley.

A word of warning about NAU: For anyone thinking of attending Northern Arizona University, there are some things you should know. NAU has a great Forestry program and a good teacher's certification program that works with Flagstaff Unified School District. The problem with NAU is their advising. Too many people have been burned and racked up higher student loans than necessary due to the incorrect and misleading advice they are given by the various department or college advisors.

I don't know if it is intentional or not but the typical problem that occurs is this: a new or transfer student goes to the college or department advisor and gets advice about what classes they need to take for their specific degree program or to be admitted to the program. Too often, the advisor will leave out some crucial classes that are either needed to even be admitted to the program or needed to finish the program. After taking the first or even the second semester, the advisor locks you out, says you haven't met some prerequisite and makes you add the classes for that prerequisite. After you take those additional classes, the advisor then tells you you are still deficient in some class or another but they will "allow" you to continue in the program provisionally. Your plans to graduate on time get derailed and you end up taking one or two additional semesters just to graduate.

The problem with this is, they wait until you are so deep into debt and into the program to tell you about the things they omitted from the beginning that it is often too late to switch programs (because of what you have already spent on the one you are in). If you are a graduate student, it is even worse because there are lifetime student loan limits and there have been several students that have gotten so close to getting their master's degree only to suddenly be told there was a set of classes they didn't have and that they cannot get their degree without these classes. This makes the student have to attend an additional semester and if they have maxed their lifetime limits, they end up not being able to finish the program and they don't get the degree but have huge student loans to pay.

BEWARE of NAU for those reasons!

[thedtbmister]

Take a look at Eastern Arizona College down in Thatcher. Its a junior college but they also have a NAU campus on their campus so you can take your upper level courses there. The websites Eastern Arizona College Homepage

[locoenlacabeza]

Originally Posted by Tom Lane

[color=Blue]
The other day, someone stated to me something very similar, that Flagstaff consisted of "good old boys and granola, with nobody in between."

Actually Flagstaff has a couple more categories that have been forgotten- you of course do have
the good ole boys- although with all the californians moving in the good ole boys may be on their way out.
granolas whom i prefer to refer to as tree huggers
the college pukes and then of course the yuppies

[junebug1961]

I want to "bump" this thread up. Our son will be moving there in a few weeks. Right now we are looking on Craiglist.