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Old 02-22-2014, 07:04 PM
 
6 posts, read 16,879 times
Reputation: 17

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Hello City-Data'ers!

I'm planning to attend grad school in Manhattan this fall and I'd like to know my living options.

I currently live in Central Jersey, an hour's train ride from NYP. Personally, I think it would be more economical if I moved closer.
The rents here are very expensive even though it's just sprawling suburbs. I am currently paying $1,200 for a very average one bedroom apartment before utilities that's 2 miles from the train station.
The monthly parking pass is $200 and the monthly NJ Transit pass is $262 after claiming student discount both of which have to be factored in the rent.

I just don't see the economy of living here and commuting. My wife and I drove over to Staten Island last week (it's only 15 mins from here but the toll on the bridge was a whopping $13!) to look up some apartments.

We were in the South Beach, Midland Beach and Freshkills Park area. Even though we found it a little congested and the roads too cramped, the apartments were about the same price or cheaper if a little but smaller. There's a long free parking lot by the beach near the Staten Island ferry that apparently never gets full. A guy we made friends with immediately knew we were from Jersey when we asked him what a monthly parking pass costs.

I'd really like to know what my options are here. The University offered me a 330 Sq. foot apartment in Manhattan for $26,000 a year. Even the bedroom in my current apartment is bigger than that! :-0

The opportunity cost of attending grad school is approximately $120,000 a year for me and I'd really like to cut down costs if that's possible or at least save time with less commuting.
Also, we'd really like to live in a more urban area if not downtown.

I was told Stamford, CT is a great place to live in and commute to NYC. The trains and parking are also cheaper.
I am okay with any location within a 60 mile radius of Manhattan.

I'd really like any advice I can get!
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Old 02-22-2014, 09:44 PM
 
12,340 posts, read 26,071,619 times
Reputation: 10351
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jjenk29 View Post
Hello City-Data'ers!

I'm planning to attend grad school in Manhattan this fall and I'd like to know my living options.

I currently live in Central Jersey, an hour's train ride from NYP. Personally, I think it would be more economical if I moved closer.
The rents here are very expensive even though it's just sprawling suburbs. I am currently paying $1,200 for a very average one bedroom apartment before utilities that's 2 miles from the train station.
The monthly parking pass is $200 and the monthly NJ Transit pass is $262 after claiming student discount both of which have to be factored in the rent.

I just don't see the economy of living here and commuting. My wife and I drove over to Staten Island last week (it's only 15 mins from here but the toll on the bridge was a whopping $13!) to look up some apartments.

We were in the South Beach, Midland Beach and Freshkills Park area. Even though we found it a little congested and the roads too cramped, the apartments were about the same price or cheaper if a little but smaller. There's a long free parking lot by the beach near the Staten Island ferry that apparently never gets full. A guy we made friends with immediately knew we were from Jersey when we asked him what a monthly parking pass costs.

I'd really like to know what my options are here. The University offered me a 330 Sq. foot apartment in Manhattan for $26,000 a year. Even the bedroom in my current apartment is bigger than that! :-0

The opportunity cost of attending grad school is approximately $120,000 a year for me and I'd really like to cut down costs if that's possible or at least save time with less commuting.
Also, we'd really like to live in a more urban area if not downtown.

I was told Stamford, CT is a great place to live in and commute to NYC. The trains and parking are also cheaper.
I am okay with any location within a 60 mile radius of Manhattan.

I'd really like any advice I can get!
If you want to spend less time and money commuting, I think it makes sense to look within the 5 boroughs. Try to look for neighborhoods where you can get a one bedroom apartment for $1500 or $1600 that are within a one hour subway commute to your school. If your school is Columbia, look for threads on Inwood and Washington Heights. If it's NYU, try Bay Ridge, Ditmas Park or Kensington. There are many neighborhoods in Queens that may also be within a one hour commute of where you need to go as well. You could try Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills, Astoria.

Remember that you will most likely pay a realtor fee and all the start up costs of having an apartment.

Where will your wife need to commute to?
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Old 02-24-2014, 12:38 AM
 
6 posts, read 16,879 times
Reputation: 17
My wife currently works in New Brunswick, NJ but it's a temp position and probably won't last long so we're not really concerned about her commute.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look up those neighborhoods. I'll be going to NYU Stern in Lower Manhattan.

I'd really like to know if Staten Island is a good idea. It seems like a very good option to me and I'm just wondering if there's some other problems I may face that I'm not foreseeing as yet.
I wonder where other grad students who go to school in NYC are staying. Surely, they are not all coughing up a ridiculous $25,000 for a matchbox apartment.
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Old 02-24-2014, 06:56 AM
 
6,192 posts, read 7,330,651 times
Reputation: 7569
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henna View Post
If you want to spend less time and money commuting, I think it makes sense to look within the 5 boroughs. Try to look for neighborhoods where you can get a one bedroom apartment for $1500 or $1600 that are within a one hour subway commute to your school. If your school is Columbia, look for threads on Inwood and Washington Heights. If it's NYU, try Bay Ridge, Ditmas Park or Kensington. There are many neighborhoods in Queens that may also be within a one hour commute of where you need to go as well. You could try Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills, Astoria.

Remember that you will most likely pay a realtor fee and all the start up costs of having an apartment.

Where will your wife need to commute to?

^Agree.

You can find a one bedroom apartment for $1200-$1300 in Bay Ridge and maybe a forty minute commute to lower Manhattan. Ditmas Park is nice too.
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Old 02-24-2014, 07:17 AM
 
1,058 posts, read 1,988,041 times
Reputation: 577
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jjenk29 View Post
Hello City-Data'ers!

I'm planning to attend grad school in Manhattan this fall and I'd like to know my living options.

I currently live in Central Jersey, an hour's train ride from NYP. Personally, I think it would be more economical if I moved closer.
The rents here are very expensive even though it's just sprawling suburbs. I am currently paying $1,200 for a very average one bedroom apartment before utilities that's 2 miles from the train station.
The monthly parking pass is $200 and the monthly NJ Transit pass is $262 after claiming student discount both of which have to be factored in the rent.

I just don't see the economy of living here and commuting. My wife and I drove over to Staten Island last week (it's only 15 mins from here but the toll on the bridge was a whopping $13!) to look up some apartments.

We were in the South Beach, Midland Beach and Freshkills Park area. Even though we found it a little congested and the roads too cramped, the apartments were about the same price or cheaper if a little but smaller. There's a long free parking lot by the beach near the Staten Island ferry that apparently never gets full. A guy we made friends with immediately knew we were from Jersey when we asked him what a monthly parking pass costs.

I'd really like to know what my options are here. The University offered me a 330 Sq. foot apartment in Manhattan for $26,000 a year. Even the bedroom in my current apartment is bigger than that! :-0

The opportunity cost of attending grad school is approximately $120,000 a year for me and I'd really like to cut down costs if that's possible or at least save time with less commuting.
Also, we'd really like to live in a more urban area if not downtown.

I was told Stamford, CT is a great place to live in and commute to NYC. The trains and parking are also cheaper.
I am okay with any location within a 60 mile radius of Manhattan.

I'd really like any advice I can get!
If you don't mind suburban living then Stamford is not that difficult a commute as is other parts of Westchester but I suggest you review the Metro North schedule and costs and unless you are within walking distance of the train stations add in parking costs too. I think you will be in the same ballpark as New Jersey on costs and not much benefit in time or rent. Staten Island eliminates a lot of those costs but I would take a test run commute from where ever you consider. I just don't think you are taking all of the costs in money and time into your equation. I also don't know how you are coming up with a $120k opportunity costs for grad school.
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Old 02-24-2014, 09:06 AM
 
Location: New York NY
5,515 posts, read 8,731,969 times
Reputation: 12696
Unless your grad school is in lower Manhattan or the Village commuting from Staten Island will be a royal pain. Frome wherever you are on the Rock you'll have to either a) get an Express Bus into Manhattan, which is $5 one way, though there are discount passes or b) schlep to the Ferry terminal, then the ferry ride, then a subway to school. People do it. But nobody really likes it. And of course with parking, gas and tolls, commuting by car is almost prohibitive.

IT would help us help you if we knew what part of the city your grad school is in. Village? Eastside? West Side? Midtown? Brooklyn? That will make a difference in what makes sense as a place to live in. Otherwise folks are just throwing out names.
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Old 02-24-2014, 09:21 AM
 
1,058 posts, read 1,988,041 times
Reputation: 577
Quote:
Originally Posted by citylove101 View Post
Unless your grad school is in lower Manhattan or the Village commuting from Staten Island will be a royal pain. Frome wherever you are on the Rock you'll have to either a) get an Express Bus into Manhattan, which is $5 one way, though there are discount passes or b) schlep to the Ferry terminal, then the ferry ride, then a subway to school. People do it. But nobody really likes it. And of course with parking, gas and tolls, commuting by car is almost prohibitive.

IT would help us help you if we knew what part of the city your grad school is in. Village? Eastside? West Side? Midtown? Brooklyn? That will make a difference in what makes sense as a place to live in. Otherwise folks are just throwing out names.

Stern is located primarily in the Washington Square area along with the rest of NYU
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:04 AM
 
2,848 posts, read 7,565,355 times
Reputation: 1672
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jjenk29 View Post
My wife currently works in New Brunswick, NJ but it's a temp position and probably won't last long so we're not really concerned about her commute.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely look up those neighborhoods. I'll be going to NYU Stern in Lower Manhattan.

I'd really like to know if Staten Island is a good idea. It seems like a very good option to me and I'm just wondering if there's some other problems I may face that I'm not foreseeing as yet.
I wonder where other grad students who go to school in NYC are staying. Surely, they are not all coughing up a ridiculous $25,000 for a matchbox apartment.

Jersey City/ Hoboken is a very easy commute to West Village on the PATH.
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Old 02-24-2014, 02:33 PM
 
Location: New York NY
5,515 posts, read 8,731,969 times
Reputation: 12696
If you're going to the village, you sill might try upper Manhattan, from Hamilton Heights up through Washington Heights, Hudson Heights, and Inwood. The A train will take you quickly down to Washington Square. You can certainly find a nice 1 bedroom for less than $2500 a month, west of Broadway, in these nighborhoods. (Hudson Heights and Inwood are the nicest and a good place runs $1400-$1800). But you'd almost certainly have to pony up for a garage because street parking there is a bi**h. They start at $250 a month in upper Manhattan. OTOH, parking is tough in most neighborhoods in NYC/ The Queens/Brooklyn neighborhoods do sound like good ideas, but I suspet parking in them is tough too -- I.m not familiar with day-to-day life out there with a car.
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Old 02-24-2014, 05:49 PM
 
1,058 posts, read 1,988,041 times
Reputation: 577
Quote:
Originally Posted by citylove101 View Post
If you're going to the village, you sill might try upper Manhattan, from Hamilton Heights up through Washington Heights, Hudson Heights, and Inwood. The A train will take you quickly down to Washington Square. You can certainly find a nice 1 bedroom for less than $2500 a month, west of Broadway, in these nighborhoods. (Hudson Heights and Inwood are the nicest and a good place runs $1400-$1800). But you'd almost certainly have to pony up for a garage because street parking there is a bi**h. They start at $250 a month in upper Manhattan. OTOH, parking is tough in most neighborhoods in NYC/ The Queens/Brooklyn neighborhoods do sound like good ideas, but I suspet parking in them is tough too -- I.m not familiar with day-to-day life out there with a car.
Lived in Brooklyn Heights for about 15 years and while Manhattan people bitched about parking after learning the system of when to move it and not taking the car out every day I really had not too many problems in parking and the subway connections there are better than most Manhattan neighborhoods.
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