Columbia College Students & Relocating (Chicago, Bridgeport: apartments, loans, school)

[sonnydyon]

So I'm a Chicago native who's been away for about 6 years, and moving back in the fall to start school at Columbia. I'm moving up there with my girlfriend and we're going to be looking at apartments in the next month or so to aim for an August move-in date. I really didn't get any financial aid to speak of, and will be relying on private loans to pay for tuition, but housing and expenses will be all on my girlfriend and I.

I'm wondering if there are any CCC students living off campus (on their own) on this forum, and if you could provide any advice to me as to how you got through this amazingly overwhelming process of relocating to Chi-town.

[eevee]

I lived off-campus the entire time I went to Columbia. I think the majority of Columbia students do. I also moved here from Boston to attend school, so have some personal experience regarding relocationg.

What specific advice are you looking for? If you're looking for cheap housing on a limited budget, some areas I'd recommend are Pilsen, Bridgeport (both of these areas are fairly close to the Loop, though Pilsen has more "starving artist" type students), Logan Square, East Humboldt Park, and some areas further north like Edgewater (longer commute, but near the lake and on the cheaper end). Of course, all this depends on what you're looking for in an area, whether you want to be closer to the lake, close to clubs, want a studio or one bedroom apartment, or have any other specific needs and desires.

As a side note, try to establish Illinois residency ASAP so you can qualify for the MAP grant next year. Also, keep a look out for Columbia-based scholarships. They do have a few that have personally helped me out (including the not-often-spoken-of "retention scholarship" given to students w/ a certain GPA who have concerns regarding staying in school due to financial reasons. That scholarship alone is almost 30% of Columbia's yearly tuition).

[sonnydyon]

Thank you so much for the reply!

I guess I just wanted to know how you make it work! Me and my Girlfriend are both servers, but I was reading that 18 year olds can't serve alcohol in Chicago. She's 21, but with me having to serve at a place with no booze, do you think we would make enough to money for an 1bd in the $700-$900/mo range and survive?

[chet everett]

Technically the law allows for minors at dining establishments to be employed as servers, though given the huge number of low skilled people that are over 21 I would not count on being to make any decent income in your situation, though I suppose if at least one of you has decent income and you do get some tuition reductions maybe things will work out..