moving to maryland (Bowie, Clinton, Waldorf: apartment, rentals, motel)

[scarmical]

We are a military family that just received an assignment to Andrews AFB in Maryland. We will be arriving in August 08. Any suggestions on decent places to look for a home to rent? We will probably be there for 2 or 3 years. We have a daughter coming with us who will be a recent high school graduate. What about the local community colleges? Are they okay? Since we don't have a child in public schools we don't have to worry about that. We are looking for a safe neighborhood with a not too long commute to Andrews AFB. We are hoping for a home with a finished basement to set up our daughter in an "apartment" type setting. Any suggestions? Thanks

[vanyali]

If your daughter wants to consider a 4-year school, you won't be terribly far from UMD. It's not a bad school, and it's not as hard to get into as some other schools can be. I've heard wonderful things about the community college in Northern Virginia, but not so much about any in Maryland.

I'll let someone more familiar with that part of the area give you advice on where to live.

[TeamBenya]

College of Southern Maryland (CSM) is pretty good, and located in La Plata MD. If you lived in someplace like Clinton, Brandywine, or Waldorf, you would be looking at a good central location between both locations!

[scarmical]

Thanks for the info. However, my daughter is interested in nursing and University of Maryland does not offer that program. So we thought two years at a community college and then transfer to a state univerisity. I know that is not the best option for getting into a nursing program but that is what we have to work with. She is graduating high school at 16 and we would just prefer if she was with us for a year or two.

Again, any info on SAFE neighborhoods to rent a home in would be appreciated. I have looked online but hard to tell the "good" neighborhoods from the "bad." I am a little concerned after reading some of the posts on this sight about the area around Andrews AFB. However, there are good and bad areas everywhere. We are excited about coming to the east coast and want to make the best of our time there

[Joykins]

Upper Marlboro is nice.

[cancan]

There is a community college just up 202 from upper marlboro....largo area. Upper Marlboro would be a decent place to look for housing for AAFB......

Thanks for you service Brother!

[trying2moveup]

My husband used to live in Morningside, which is literally a mile or two down from the main gate entrance to AFB on Allentown Road. It is a nice little WWII type community and he never had any problems but I never felt completely safe there either. Unfortunately, the area around the base is not that great. Like you said, there is good and bad everywhere but you should know there was an awful homicide in a motel across from AFB a couple of years ago, and there is a nightclub called Classics right there that attracts a lot of negative attention.
Unfortunately, the safest areas are inside the gate, not out. My husband, before I met him, used to rent an apartment in Largo and was held up at gunpoint bringing groceries in from his car. He recommends you look at Waldorf, Crownsville. . . AFB is near the DC line and with that, problems. . .and you are on the SE side of the DC line which is the worst part of DC.
Sorry to be a negative, but you need to know. Get yourself a good buyer's agent based in PG County that also works in neighboring Charles County.
Good luck

[cancan]

waldorf and crownsville with traffic will be almost an hour or more to the base....upper marlboro is decent and safe and is 10-15 minutes.

[scarmical]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate the words of wisdom. Anyone attended either the community college in Largo or the one in La Plata? Any words of wisdom there? Since we are arriving so late in the summer, we were wondering if rentals are pretty plentiful even then or do they get picked over?

[Moonepie]

I have attended the nursing program on Route 202. The community college is Prince Georges Community College. Their nursing program was pretty good. I don't believe they have the highest rate as far as their students passing the boards, but I can only tell you from my personal experience that it prepared me well for the boards and currently I've been working as an ICU nurse for the last 6 years. The area around the base is not a safe place to live. Waldorf would be better. With traffic, you might find that it takes a while to get to the base, especially weekday mornings. I'm planning to move to Waldorf even though I will have to leave much earlier to get to work. I feel it's worth it. The schools there are much better than PG County schools if you have younger kids in elementary school to high school. The College of Southern Maryland has a really good nursing program. They're located in La Plata which is further than Waldorf, but do-able. I definitely would not move anywhere right off the base. To be safe, you'd be best to move to Waldorf, Bowie, La Plata, etc... all those areas are from 30 minutes to an hour away. Hope this helps.