Where to live in Glendale? (Phoenix, Tempe: apartments, rental homes, credit)

[hubcab]

Hi everyone! I was wondering if I could trouble ya'all with my predicament...

I'm currently in Colorado looking to get married to an Airman working at Luke AFB in Glendale.

I've already been accepted to ASU, and my classes would mainly be at the Downtown and Tempe campuses. However, I can take some classes at the West campus, as well as a free shuttle from West Campus to downtown. (Which would save me a lot of money on parking!)

Finally, the Air Force will give us $1190 a month for rent and utilities.

Are there any good areas to look at apartments or rental homes strategically between ASU West AND Luke AFB? (Or just close to ASU West? or somewhere else to help with each of our commute times?) And for relatively near our budget?

Thanks for your help!

[asufan]

Originally Posted by hubcab

Hi everyone! I was wondering if I could trouble ya'all with my predicament...

I'm currently in Colorado looking to get married to an Airman working at Luke AFB in Glendale.

I've already been accepted to ASU, and my classes would mainly be at the Downtown and Tempe campuses. However, I can take some classes at the West campus, as well as a free shuttle from West Campus to downtown. (Which would save me a lot of money on parking!)

Finally, the Air Force will give us $1190 a month for rent and utilities.

Are there any good areas to look at apartments or rental homes strategically between ASU West AND Luke AFB? (Or just close to ASU West? or somewhere else to help with each of our commute times?) And for relatively near our budget?

Thanks for your help!

I would look in North Glendale, maybe about 5 miles Northwest of ASU West near the Arrowhead Mall area. Your husband will be relatively close to Luke, and you will be within 10-15 minutes to ASU West. There's also many apartments in the ASU West area and Thunderbird graduate school area. That is not a bad area, but not as nice as the Arrowhead area.

[Ritchie_az]

Perhaps Goodyear? Not far from Luke, and you could take the I-10 to the 202 to get to the ASU campus.

[roundball]

I'm not sure if you realize that the main campus is about an hour away from the west campus. Assuming that you're a freshman and your first few semesters are going to be taken up by generals and electives I would look into taking some classes @GCC or on base. If you want your diploma to say ASU, you can always transfer all your credits after 1-2 years. Just something to think about.
Will your hubby-to-be even be stationed at luke for 4-5 more years to finish up your degree at ASU?

Arrowhead is nice.

[Ritchie_az]

If you are going the community college route, Estrella Mountain CC is very close to Luke.

[hubcab]

Originally Posted by roundball

I'm not sure if you realize that the main campus is about an hour away from the west campus. Assuming that you're a freshman and your first few semesters are going to be taken up by generals and electives I would look into taking some classes @GCC or on base. If you want your diploma to say ASU, you can always transfer all your credits after 1-2 years. Just something to think about.
Will your hubby-to-be even be stationed at luke for 4-5 more years to finish up your degree at ASU?

Arrowhead is nice.

I'd be a transfer student. Right now I'm finishing up the last semester of my sophomore year. So I'm way past the general stuff.

His minimum time at Luke is 2 years, but even if I end up taking an extra semester (or two...) because of the transfer and he gets re-stationed I'm fine with possibly finishing solo in Arizona until I get that degree. It sucks, but there's always a sacrifice with a military relationship.

Is it really an hour between West campus and downtown? The school shuttle schedule says 30 minutes, which is pretty much around what it took me to drive from downtown to Luke last week... but I was interested in saving gas and parking money most of all...

[Ritchie_az]

A lot of travel time depends on time-of-day and street-vs-freeway driving. ASU is quite a drive from Luke. Even ASU West isn't all that close. In your case, I'm not really sure there is a "best bet". My advise is to live close to the freeway (either I-10 or Loop 101), in Avondale, Goodyear or Peoria, so that your commute to ASU isn't any longer than it has to be. Those locations are also fairly close to Luke, and it won't be too bad getting to ASU West.
Also, there are other schools that you may want to consider. Grand Canyon University, Western International University, Midwestern University, Northern Arizona University, and University of Phoenix all have campuses in the area. I'm sure there are more, but that's all that I can think of.
Oh, on Luke AFB, there's Webster University, Park University, Embrey-Riddle and Wayland Baptist University (I think it's a limited number of class-room teaching and a large number of on-line classes).
Just a thought, but if you picked a closer school, that may make things a bit easier on you.
Good luck!

[roundball]

Originally Posted by hubcab

Is it really an hour between West campus and downtown? The school shuttle schedule says 30 minutes, which is pretty much around what it took me to drive from downtown to Luke last week... but I was interested in saving gas and parking money most of all...

Yep. It only takes 30min to downtown which sounds reasonable.. Tempe is an hour which seems like a headache. You've been in school already for a few semesters so I'm sure you'll be fine. It wouldn't hurt to maybe talk to an advisor at some of the places that Ritchie_az mentioed.

[hubcab]

I chose ASU because of their awesome Journalism program, but I'll definitely check into those schools as well since the only thing really keeping me hesitant about the school is the distance and commute time. So if I could find something closer it'd be fabulous! Thanks for all your help, guys!