West Lafayette or Lafayette? (Wabash: apartments, travel, incomes)

[neeners04]

My husband is currently working on getting his Mechanical Engineering degree at a local college here in southern Indiana. However, in two years, he will have to transfer to Purdue University in West Lafayette. I've been looking online at apartments and things in West Lafayette just to get an idea of cost, location, etc. It looks like it's cheaper to live in Lafayette rather than West Lafayette. Is this true? We have a two year old daughter who will be just about ready to start kindergarten when we move, and I've heard West Lafayette's schools are very good (which is one reason for my favoring it over Lafayette).

I'm from a very small town and am quite nervous of living in a town like Lafayette. What's the crime like there? The schools?

I'd really prefer to live in West Lafayette because it's smaller and has a nice school system, but it looks like it might be a bit out of our price range.

Please help! I'm having a really hard time weighing out the pros and cons of each city.

[domergurl]

West Lafayette schools are consistently ranked among the best in the state. Hands down. And yes, housing is more expensive ... it's a university town. Another option may be to move to the Frontier school corporation. It's small town and close to Lafayette:
Corporation Snapshot, Frontier School Corporation #8525

[hindsight2020]

West Lafayette and Lafayette are essentially the same town. It's a typical college town. Cost of living is not substantially more than what you're paying right now. Now, if you're looking for home ownership, then yes, West Lafayette will be out of your price range primarily because you'll have to compete with Purdue university staff and professors' incomes. You mentioned you guys have a kid, so you may or may not be into the student lifestyle (even though your husband is one), but renting in west lafayette could be an option. There's beaucoup properties around (college town) and it would facilitate the hubby's travel to school (big plus IMO). I don't know what y'all price range is but I'm sure you could find something in Lafayette if you're dead set on owning; it won't be as nice as W. Lafayette but it will be affordable. Good luck to you and your husband when you get to Purdue. I was a grad student there from '03-'05 and met my now fiancé at Purdue (she's from IN) . We've since moved to better (warmer) pastures but sans the weather Lafayette/WLafayette is a decent town.

[Cel4]

I would most definitely recommend West Lafayette because of the excellent school system and low crime rate. As for crime in Lafayette it is not too bad but, As for the Lafayette school district I would highly recommend staying out of them because of the drug and gang problems going on there. Lastly, the Tippecanoe school district is just an average school district (not bad, not the best) but some of the schools are having porblems with overcrowding right now due to the growth but there are already three new schools are being bit so I think it will be fine.

[sponger42]

My personal experience with the Tippecanoe school system has been good. Overall test scores might be average, but if you can raise a self-motivated child, they will do great. I know two NASA rocket scientists who recieved their primary education up through 12th in TSC. West Lafayette Schools have a better reputation, but I think drugs are a little more prevalent. Lafayette schools have the same average reputation as TSC, but again I think they have more problems with drugs and delinquencies, being less rural on average.

Crime in Lafayette/WLAF is not much of a factor outside of a few problem areas, and even then it's pretty low-level stuff like smash-and-grabs rather than capital crimes.

I would recommend trying to find a rental close to the campus as there is a glut of housing in WLAF. Mid-semester is a better time to look for rentals, with summer being the absolute best. Williamsberg on the Wabash is a pretty good place. It's an older complex, but very quiet and nice with little noise or disturbances. It's an easy bike ride (after you get up the hill) to all points campus except in the snow.

Some places on the outskirts of Purdue offer cheap rents and a free bus service to campus, but they tend to be rowdy and noisier as they are nearly 100% college kids.

Another place to try would be downtown Lafayette, just across the river from campus. There are tons of "for rent" signs out in front of the old victorian houses on Northbound US 26 heading down the hill into downtown (The road then goes across the bridge, over the levee, and up the hill into Purdue). It's a moderate bike ride in good weather, but the city bus surely runs through there for when it's raining or snowing. It's close to the county library, YWCA, and the coffeeshops/resturants downtown--not to mention ARNIS (a short drive away in Market Square)! I think the rents are fairly cheap there.

I strongly recommend you visit, check out the areas I mentioned, and be sure to walk through any place you're thinking of renting first. Oh, and get lunch at Arnis at Market Square. Get the pizza or the Arnis Junior Salad. Yum!

[Brandnewguy07]

I would go with West lafayette (lafayette has too many gangster wanna-bes) West lafayette is a better place to live. I've lived in Lafayette for about 15 years, it's a nice place but to many people are coming down from Chicago and do drugs and are violent. now don't get me wrong that place will always be my home no matter what. Over all West lafayette is a little bit more expensive than lafayette but it's worth it.