My son has chosen YSU. (Cleveland, Youngstown: brokers, squatters, homes)

[CortlandGirl79]

^Well, if you knew anything about Youngstown you would know that area around Wick Park is improving. People are buying those homes and fixing them up. I thought the video you posted was actually pretty positive............

Wick Park Neighborhood Association

[SorryIMovedBack]

(shrug) I think that people of the Shenango & Mahoning Valley regions have been here so long that they forget what a nice area looks like. Seriously, every time I go through there, the streets are more crumbled, the houses just as shabby and vacant and boarded-up, and St. E's is trying to get out of that downtown hospital altogether. The younger professional people live in Boardman or Austintown, and that's where the shopping and entertainment are.

My mother, retired educator and guidance counselor recommends:
Not YSU for art. Engineering, maybe. But not art. They are not known for their art degrees. She concurs that it's primarily a commuter school and always had been, and that the dorms may empty out on weekends due to many of those students' homes are within 1-2 hours drive at most, so they leave on the weekends. Not a good place to be stuck, without family nearby, and without a car.

Pittsburgh would be a good locale, either CMU for Pitt for the education, the proximity to theater and film work, and the urban and cultural experiences.

Kent if you want an Ohio school with a reasonable on-campus life and not a big city.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

Did he look at University of Charleston, in Charleston, WV? I don't know anything about art programs, so you're on your own there. But Charleston is far safer, more more cultured, far more urbane and sophisticated and upscale than the rum-dumb bumpkin mill towns of NW PA/ NE OH ever dreamed of being. University of Charleston's cost as a private school used to be pretty comparable to many state's in-state rates. A lot of people from NY state sent their kids there, at least in the '80s and '90s. The dorms are new/upgraded. The city is very walkable and bikeable, although the downtown area is across the river from "ChuckU." The Kanawha City side where that schools is is a gorgeous upscale neighborhood of nice homes, with some great vintage apartment buildings scattered around it's park-like setting. Charleston has a higher-than-average well-educated populace, especially compared to the Shenango and Mahoning Valleys of PA and OH. It's also is more "southern" and the people are very friendly, without that ethnic and Catholic lower socioeconomic belligerence that you cant escape in these old mill towns here.


Walkable? Y-town is not walkable! It's deserted! It's a roll up the windows and drive through it ASAP kind of place. YSU is the only well-maintained spot there. I have been in and out of the city of Y-Town at all hours of the day and night. It's a rotting hole, it's decaying right before your eyes, and NW PA and NE OH has been in economic decline since the '70s. It's been taken over totally by the blacks and the drug dealers. You can't wring culture out of a generation of welfare recipients and criminals. And that is what that area of Y-town is absolutely full of. To me, the dorms would be the only place to stay.

Here's a truthful video of exactly what the surrounding area looks like.
Youngstown, Ohio: Fixing Wick Park - YouTube

Perhaps you didn't read my post.

My son LOVES rust belt cities. We didn't find Youngstown THE CITY to be depressing at ALL!

He does NOT want to go to college in West Virginia. Two of his cousins did and he hated each of their campuses - WVU and West VA Wesleyan.

I am not worried about the city.

I am worried about the commuters and non trad students.

This post WAS NOT MEANT TO BASH YOUNGSTOWN AT ALL!

[ZSL1985]

You'll have that with any post regarding Youngstown. A lot of haters on here it seems.

Just an FYI....NE Ohio hasn't been on an economic decline since the '70s. In fact, we have seen a lot of new growth in the area, specifically in manufacturing.
Metro Area Ranks 3rd in Manufacturing Job Growth | Business Journal Daily

Regional Chamber Updates Good News Fact Sheet | Business Journal Daily

With the V&M Star expansion and addition of the oil & gas industry, Youngstown has some great opportunities ahead. In fact, with the company I work for, I have met people from other parts of the country that are staying in Youngstown long term due to the oil & gas industry. Every single one of them have said Youngstown hasn't seen anything yet and within the next 1 to 2 years, we will see the benefits of a better economy.

Downtown Y-town is ABSOLUTELY walkable. I myself have been downtown after dark and had no issues with any thugs lurking in the shadows. I felt comfortable leaving my car parked downtown as well. The police do have a presence, which makes me feel safe. Of course, I am not going to be running around at 3am....but for the most part, I felt very safe.

Yes, it does suck about the crumbling roads and boarded up homes. However, both Youngstown and Warren are taking the proper steps to ensure the blight is dealt with. Hopefully with new companies locating to Youngstown, the city can take advantage of tax revenues to resurface and rebuild roads. Heck, maybe he can take advantage of the depressing economy from years past, the new growth and blight and turn it into art? Youngstown could be very inspirational for him!

Youngstown State is a good choice! They may not be best art school to choose from, but YSU certainly has a lot to offer. The degree he will receive will only open doors for him in the future....don't let the haters discourage you about YSU and this area.

[CortlandGirl79]

Double like, I would rep you both. Sheena, got your message..........that sounds awesome!

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by ZSL1985

Downtown Y-town is ABSOLUTELY walkable. I myself have been downtown after dark and had no issues with any thugs lurking in the shadows. I felt comfortable leaving my car parked downtown as well. The police do have a presence, which makes me feel safe. Of course, I am not going to be running around at 3am....but for the most part, I felt very safe.

Yes, it does suck about the crumbling roads and boarded up homes. However, both Youngstown and Warren are taking the proper steps to ensure the blight is dealt with. Hopefully with new companies locating to Youngstown, the city can take advantage of tax revenues to resurface and rebuild roads. Heck, maybe he can take advantage of the depressing economy from years past, the new growth and blight and turn it into art? Youngstown could be very inspirational for him!

Youngstown State is a good choice! They may not be best art school to choose from, but YSU certainly has a lot to offer. The degree he will receive will only open doors for him in the future....don't let the haters discourage you about YSU and this area.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Downtown isn't walkable. I mean it's only a few blocks in size and it, along with YSU, are the probably the safest and most heavily patrolled parts of the city. The argument is that there isn't THAT much for a college student to do Downtown. Aside from the bars on W Federal, the occasional event on the plaza and rare concert at the Covelli Centre, there's really not much happening. A car (or at least a bike) is needed for basically everything else (shopping, movies, more restaurants, parks [excluding Wick], etc.).

You have a good point about being inspired by the blight. There is this new Facebook page called Our Youngstown where local photographers post photos of the city. Some of them are a little too Instagram-y for me, but there are some really good ones that showcase the beauty in both the good and bad of Youngstown.

I don't want to come off as trashing Youngstown or YSU. Like I've said in this thread, I have a lot of friends at YSU. I chose to go away for college, but every time I'm home, I hang out with my YSU friends at the Downtown bars or their off-campus houses/apartments just north of campus. I always have a good time, but I think that's because the trips home are few and far between. If I actually went to YSU and that was my scene every weekend for four years, I definitely wouldn't like it as much. Especially if I didn't have a car and was stuck there when campus empties out every night after classes and every weekend.

[sheena12]

Actually it's quite a good Art School! It's NASAD ( National Association of Schools of Art and Design) accredited. Only about 2000 colleges and universities are accredited. They have a rather large and diverse department including some offerings that are not at other schools such as glass art, a concentration in 3-D design, and a BFA - the most coveted of degrees in the Art field. The professional Art degree.

The Bliss complex is devoted to the Fine and Performing Arts, and there in an entire college within the university devoted to these fields.
He is very happy with the sequence and the freedom in course choices permitted - quite unusual for a state institution.

I'm happy with the city and with the Academics. He wanted art and the Rust Belt. We live in a Rust belt city!


He's not a fan of the Sun or Bible Belts though...

My main concern - his social life. Can't beat the price tag though, and they really are trying to attract out of area students.

[SorryIMovedBack]

I'll stay out of further discussion, because if I am a "hater," there are others on here who constantly are looking through their cockeyed optimist beer goggles, or something, and their minds are made up.

But, one of the best places to look for a mate is at college. One will NEVER have that kind of access to bright, well-educated, singles ever again. Once you leave college and enter the workforce, a lot of people will already be engaged or married, and you meet far fewer single people who do not have "baggage." I'm just saying that, because I went to college as a commuter and figured I'd date after i entered the workforce. In spite of being well paid, financially secure, and only 21, I found it difficult to meet suitable singles who were not divorced men with financial problems and children. Rust Belt cities are like that: The smart kids go away to college if they possibly can, and they don't come back except to visit. The locals who stay hang around with their families and the people that they grew up and went to high school with and played kids sports with.

But suit yourselves.

[Cleveland_Collector]

^^ Clearly, you have zero idea what you're talking about outside of your own pathos.

PS - If you can't find a "mate" as an educated, financially secure individual ANYWHERE at 21 years of age, the problem squarely lies with you.

[sheena12]

This thread is so off topic, but I feel the need to defend Youngstown and YSU!

Yes, SorryImovedback, the West Virginia schools are more "southern". And that is a good thing how? In what way? We are not southerners, and my son, who is into punk rock, skateboarding, urban art and veganism, would be happy where? At a country music concert? A rodeo? A huge southern frat party? Going out with southern belles? The girls he dates dress in black and wear doc martens. Not frilly get ups or big hair.

And this "find a mate at college" thing - where did that come from? Oh, perhaps the South, because it sounds very 1950s to me! I went to college decades later and I knew of one person who actually found their "mate" at college. (they're divorced) The other ones I know of are my husband's sister who is a rabid right wing Pentecostal and met her husband in her sophomore year from the wonderful pool of desirable mates at Oral Roberts University, down in Tulsa. That's what Southerners and Southern wanna bees do I guess.

I like the city of Youngstown and I see great promise there. The architecture of the homes in the video that you intended to be derogatory, was awesome! I thought, as did CortlandGirl that it was pretty positive!

If you are sorry that you came back, perhaps you should think about leaving!
Life is too short to life where you hate.