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I will be a 20 year old Junior in college when I plan on moving to Oahu. I have several questions about certain areas of Oahu and how to survive living without family on the island.
1) What are relatively safe areas of Oahu? Right now I am looking at the Mililani area. I plan on going to school at Kapiolani and then transfering to Manoa. I don't mind a 20 mile commute...
2) Driving...I will be driving an FJ Cruiser and I'm worried about theft... where I am from car break ins arent frequent, but I know that it's popular in the tourist areas so would you recommend advancing my security system or just getting a new car when I move?
3) I'm also really nervous about moving down there and not making any friends. Mainly because I will be at a community college first and usually people just keep to themselves at CC's. I've met some local guys while on vacation, but they're kind of flakey.
4) Would you recommend finding a roomate or living on my own?
5) Any other comments or suggestions you have for me are greatly appreciate!
I will be a 20 year old Junior in college when I plan on moving to Oahu. I have several questions about certain areas of Oahu and how to survive living without family on the island.
1) What are relatively safe areas of Oahu? Right now I am looking at the Mililani area. I plan on going to school at Kapiolani and then transfering to Manoa. I don't mind a 20 mile commute...
2) Driving...I will be driving an FJ Cruiser and I'm worried about theft... where I am from car break ins arent frequent, but I know that it's popular in the tourist areas so would you recommend advancing my security system or just getting a new car when I move?
3) I'm also really nervous about moving down there and not making any friends. Mainly because I will be at a community college first and usually people just keep to themselves at CC's. I've met some local guys while on vacation, but they're kind of flakey.
4) Would you recommend finding a roomate or living on my own?
5) Any other comments or suggestions you have for me are greatly appreciate!
Mahalo!
Hmmm, there are a lot of ways I could respond to this, I'll start with basics.....
First, the commute from Mililani to Kapiolani Community College is an incredibly dreadful commute. I mean, one of the worse in the entire US, especially if you have morning classes. If you have to be in the morning rush, think 90+ minutes. That 20 miles is awful. Just the gas alone in bumper to bumper traffic will kill your budget.
Get a roommate - especially if you don't many people in Hawaii (which it looks like you don't). Find something near campus and cut the commute - the time you take off of the commute you can study. Find something near Waikiki, Manoa, Kaimuki. Plenty of college students looking for roommates in that area. Save your gas money and live closer to campus.
As far as a car, if you live near campus, you can even skip the car and take the bus. Where do you get this info on car break-ins? It is about the same as any other place you go - this is not the land of car break ins. You need to balance the cost to ship your car versus getting a car in Hawaii. A basic security system is fine - try to find a place with parking included (or, as I mentioned - get a roommate - and the money you save can go towards a parking place).
Last bit of advice - you really need to start doing more research on Oahu - sounds like you need to bone up a bit. Biggest advice though, Mililani to Kapiolani Community College is a dreadful commute. Depending on class schedule, that could be 3 hours a day in a car.
1) If you are a single college student then get a small apartment closer to KCC.
2) Don't leave anything expensive in plain sight in your car. Get car insurance in case they take your car for a joyride and total it.
3) Friends? Are you coming for school or to mingle?
4) Getting a roommate helps save on rent. If rent isn't an issue then live by yourself.
5) I'm curious as to what KCC has to offer that you can't get at your local CC? It costs a lot to live in Hawaii and I think you haven't thoroughly looked at your expenses. If you commute from Kapiolani to Mililani everyday your gasoline bill will be at least $200/month with an FJ cruiser.
And my CC used to be one of the best in the nation now with all of the budget cuts a lot of our sections are being cut especially for my major and kapiolani offers an AS in marketing which I want to major in rather than just business.
Alohabritt23 said â€I've been commuting every day of my life since I was 5 to school and to work.“
And someone else, probably a parent, shouldered the cost of gas, vehicle maintenance, etc. for the first 11 or 12 years of that commute.
Go back and give some serious attention to what the previous posters have been trying to tell you about the time and dollar costs to commute in Hawaii.
Get your degree from the lowest cost college you can, because in reality, after you get that degree, no employer will really care where you got it from. The only real exceptions to that is for lawyers who want to work at prestigious law firms, doctors and certain large companies that mistakenly value MBA's from IVY League schools as being better than others.
On a map, the distance from Mililani to KCC may seem pretty small. In mainland terms, it is almost next door, but in terms of distance on Oahu it is really far. It all has to do with traffic and very long commute times in either direction during morning and early evening hours.
Like most CC's everywhere, Kapilolani is a commuter school (as is U of H, Monoa). It is very normal, perfectly acceptable and completely common in Hawai'i for young adults going to community college or university (and even at work after completing their schooling) to live at home with parents and other family members. Students and their parents do this to save money in addition to families in Hawai'i generally being extremely close knit.
The majority of students going to KCC will be locally raised young adults who live at home. There are a fair number of out-of-state students who do attend KCC and live in shared housing, however you will have to do your own research about the shared housing issue. As you pointed out in your post, there is the issue of making friends in at CC's. The same is likely true in Hawai'i and maybe more so than the mainland. Hawai'i, in general, and Oahu in particular, are like really small towns. For example: students live at home; they often are working part-time too; they know other students from their high school days and their relatives may be attending too. It is a pretty small world.
Honestly, if you haven't done so already, I would recommend going to Honolulu and spending several days touring KCC, attending clases and talking with the staff and facilty. You can also address the housing and transportation issues during that visit. This is absolutely the best and soundest advice I can give you, and I hope you give it some thought.
Good Luck. It can be done, but don't go at it blind.
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