East Coast Girl Moving to Portland for Lewis & Clark grad school- need advice! (Beaverton: apartment complex, rentals)

[finnck]

Hi Everyone,

I'm about 95% sure I'm moving from the east coast (tri-state area) to Portland to attend grad school at Lewis & Clark. Its obviously a huge move so I'm looking for any and all advice regarding both the school and the city. As a grad student, I don't believe I'll be able to get campus housing so I'll need to find a place. As I'm going out alone, I'd ideally like to get a one bedroom apartment or studio for at least the first year- until I meet someone I'm comfortable living with (I'm 26 and over the random roommate stage...if it can be helped!) What kind of rent would I be looking at per month? I have a car so living off campus isn't an issue (also need to worry about driving out vs. putting my car on a truck or train-ideas? costs?). Anyone familiar with Financial aid at L & C? I'd also eventually love to get a dog while I'm out there- I've heard Portland is very dog friendly. Any advice or info for a 26 yr old female moving out to Portland for grad school would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

So excited!

[philwithbeard]

Finnck:

To start with, welcome to Portland!

Now, go to Google maps, and hit the Satellite feature for the area around L&C. Not exactly downtown urban area. Lots and Lots of trees. Now click on the Terrain feature to see the up and down hill bike riders face.

Go to our very good bus service, TriMet TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area
and search out bus line #39 which is the L&C limited commuting bus service.

You will also want to check out the Neighborhood maps of Portland:
Neighborhood Maps and Boundaries

And of course the description of neighborhoods at:
Portland Neighborhoods Guide - Portland Oregon

or just do a Google on: Moving to Portland

Craigslist.com for some reason or another is very good in Portland. You can get a good idea of prices and neighborhoods with rentals available from Craigslist. Be aware though, on Craigslist for Portland there are some tabs at the top. Those are for the Counties around Portland. The city of Portland is in Multnomah, Washington is to the West, Clackamas is to the East and South. Clark is North across the Columbia River in the State of Washington.

Do Google the Pronunciation of the Willamette River, Wil-Lam-it or something. I cannot get over my Mid-West and East Coast Will-e-mit which brings howls of laughter.

Phil

[finnck]

Thanks! I'll check out all of those sites...I've seen a few already. I have a car so while I'd like to bike/use the bus system when possible, I'm also ok with needing to drive to class. That said, what neighborhoods would you recommend within 20 minutes drive to L & C that would offer the most bang for my buck? I'd ideally like to rent solo for at least the first year until I meet a few people, then I'm totally fine with getting a roommate/roommates. Any ideas for a nice area of town to start out in (most affordable while being safe/relatively nice)?

[lilfoot1598]

I have a graduate degree from Lewis and Clark - what program are you in? I value the time I spent there very much.

Housing can be expensive in this area. I rent a small one-bedroom apartment in Tigard for $720/mo. You can go a bit cheaper if you don't care about quality of grounds, etc. Plan to spend at least $500 for a studio, I'd say. You are correct to say that there is no campus housing.

Areas to look into:
Lake Oswego - beautiful area, expensive, close to L and C
Tigard - some areas are nice, a 20-minute drive to L and C
Tualatin - nice area, a bit closer to campus than Tigard
SE Portland -

As for students loans, L and C will offer a package that includes some cost of living. I think my loan included $5,000-7,000 per term for living expenses. If you choose to live off this alone, money will be very very tight.

[Rob Allen]

Follow the route of the #39 bus, north toward downtown. You'll pass thru a couple of neighborhoods - Burlingame (which is bisected by the I-5 freeway) and Hillsdale, where the #39 connects with several other bus lines. A bit to the west is Multnomah Village, and a bit to the east is Johns Landing. All of those neighborhoods are good possibilities. The most walkable are Hillsdale and Multnomah Village; the big supermarkets are in Burlingame; and Johns Landing is along the river.

Personally, I'd look first in Hillsdale, because it's closest to downtown, but that may not be a priority for you.

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by finnck

..... Any ideas for a nice area of town to start out in (most affordable while being safe/relatively nice)?

FYI: the city of Portland is very safe compared to almost all other cities of same size. There is crime, but on a comparative scale Portland is very safe.

L&C is in the South West side of Portland. Since you are so emphatic about going on your own, you should be aware the the property taxes are high in Multnomah County. Thus rental property is also higher to pay for landlord's tax bill.

If you look at a map, follow state highway 99W a bit south of L&C into Washington County, like Tigard. That is very much into the 'burbs, and generally not what 20-something females are looking for, but the rent is cheaper. Also look up on Route 10, Hillsdale-Beaverton Highway, in an area called Raleigh Hills, again, 'burbs to the maximum, but cheaper rent.

My recommendation is Multnomah Village neighborhood, but it is still 'crunchy' yuppie and a bit high priced for 1brm rentals. Lots of 2brm townhouses for rent. Very Green neighborhood (politics, trees, and leafy vegetation.)

I also recommend a small apartment complex area near a Fred Meyer's Grocery Store (Kroger by another name) on Route 99W (blvd named Barbur at that point) near Bertha Blvd and Custer Drive. Several small apartment complexes just up hill from the Fred Meyer's and close to the Bus line #39. Most likely in the $600.00 per month rental range.

Oh, and do check with L & C about car parking for students before you lock yourself into a commute where using your car is your only option.

Phil

[finnck]

Thanks! So you received $5000-$7000 per semester above and beyond what you needed for tuition? I do plan on working as much as I can- either through work study if I qualify or by getting another job nearby (I'll nanny if I need to!) but I'll have to pay for room & board, utilities, my car, etc...
The program is the school psych grad program so its a three year deal. Do any of you have experience with getting a random roommate in the area? I'm hesitant to do that right off the bat but if it would make things a lot easier, I'll look into it more. Unfortunately, I wont have time to come check places out beforehand. I have a friend in the area that can do a little research on a place that I find before I commit but thats about it!
I'll start looking on craigslist for those areas you mentioned. What about across the river in Sellwood? I heard that some L & C students live there?

[Rob Allen]

Sellwood is a nice place to live; I have friends there. But the Sellwood Bridge is old and rickety; they don't let buses cross it any more. I think I read that on a 100-point scale of bridge safety, it rated a 2. It's going to be replaced in the next decade, and during the construction phase you'd probably have to drive north to the Ross Island Bridge to cross the river.

They may still be arguing about it by the time you get your degree, so you might miss the detour phase, but that still leaves you crossing a rickety old bridge twice a day.

[Leisesturm]

Ditch the car and save ~6K/yr. I'm serious. Best thing I ever did.

H

[Minervah]

Sellwood is one of my favorite neighborhoods but I can't live there because I don't own a car and the bus service is next to nothing on weekends and evenings. If you have a car there should be no problem getting around. Also there is a special Lewis and Clark College shuttle bus that makes a couple of stops downtown and on the way to the school. I used to take it when I needed to get to their law library.

Check with the school to see if they have job placements or some other type of help. Jobs are very difficult to come by in Portland. Do you have nanny experience or a license? That may help.

Maybe another college student would be a good roommate rather than a random pick from Craig's List. That's something else about which you can check with the school. They may have some sort of roommate matching service.

It's a beautiful school in a beautiful area.