Bloomington, (W.) Lafayette for carless older future grad student (Indianapolis: apartments, rental)

[ogre]

Hi everyone. For a couple of years I've been closing in on time to apply to graduate school. I've posted on several forums here at CD, with questions about areas with grad schools I'm considering. Now both IU and Purdue are looking like schools there is a good chance I'll apply to. I have some questions about life in Bloomington and the Lafayette area. Here are some details:

It won't be in the student budget for me to own a car, so I need to know whether a car-free life is manageable in these cities. I'm in good shape physically, and would not mind a bit of a walk. I could reasonably handle living as far as two miles or so from campus. The qualification to this would be that if I lived that far from campus I would want to be very close to basic shopping (grocery, drugstore, a few eateries), as the time spent getting around would begin to add up if I had a two-mile walk to campus and also had a substantial walk in order to buy the basic necessities.

Another transportation concern is the issue of getting in and out of town for vacations. From research I've done, it appears that Bloomington does not have an airport. Apparently Lafayette has commercial service, but sometimes the puddle-jumper flights from small airports are expensive, so it would be a plus to have access to a major airport, which I'm assuming would be Indianapolis, or possibly Chicago in the case of Lafayette. Is there a convenient means of transportation to larger cities, such as an overland bus? Does either university run shuttles to a major airport?

I'm on the mature side, even for a grad student, so I would prefer to avoid areas with a large student population, and the noisy parties often found in these areas. Do Bloomington and Lafayatee/W. Laf. have a good number of rental possibilities in quieter parts of town? Also, keeping in mind the fact that I anticipate going car-free, are there some quiet areas more or less close to campus? And, it's not a make-or-break question, but I'm interested in knowing whether these cities are purely college towns, or there is still some life to be found around town during the summer and other university break times, since, being older, I would be staying around town most of the year, not leaving town to spend entire summers with family.

How are the on-campus housing options for grad students at IU and Purdue, such as apartments, dorms for grad students, etc.? Are these areas clean and quiet, and generally reasonable residences for someone older than the typical student?

Thanks much for any info you all could offer about the above questions, or anything else that would be useful to know about these areas.

[MissingIndiana]

If you own a bicycle, I know a lot of IU's student population uses that mode of transportation quite a bit. The campus is also pretty walkable and I think there is a bus system that operates around campus and the area. Also, I think that during the winter months, Bloomington may be a little kinder to you weatherwise than West Lafayette (ie only slightly warmer, but probably less snow and less bitter wind).

As for access to airports, there is an airport on the west end of Bloomington, west of state road 37. It is the Monroe County airport and is about a 15 minute drive from campus. I've never flown out of it, but knowing the name might help you research a bit more. Indy would be the closest major airport which would be about an hour and 15 minutes away. I don't know how you would get there without a car. Maybe a Greyhound bus? Or maybe you will make a friend that could drive you.

As for living, I would say the universities are major parts of both towns and for that reason, there is going to be a large student population in the housing/apartments in both places. You might try this website Apartment Search - Bloomington Indiana - Rental Search Sites for Bloomington Apts - Near IU. Sorry I can't be of more help in that area. If I hear of anything else I will let you know.

[rrah]

Bloomington has pretty good public transportation UNLESS you live outside the city limits. The airport referenced in the above post doesn't really have public flights. Indianapolis Airport will be your main airport. There is a shuttle service that goes directly to the airport. It's fairly easy to live here without a car.

Using your 2 mile limit, you'll certainly be able to find rental housing away from the undergrad crowd, and likely won't have to go out that far. There are some campus owned apartments geared towards graduate students--Redbud apartments on the eastern edge of campus is one. A new apartment style dorm is opening in 2010, and I believe that will also have room for grad students.

[Uplander]

I know several IU faculty and staff who are care free, or nearly so.

You might inquire if the appartments you are looking at offer grad student discounts. It may not save you much money, but it may be an indication of a quieter crowd. I don't think you will find a quiet appartment near the stadium, but I guess it could happen. The appartments along Second Street near the College Mall or some of the ones along Smith Road may be worth a look.

Here's a link to the Bloomington Transit site for route information. index

Without a car you would be flying out of the Indianapolis airport. There are two shuttle services making that trip. I don't know much about the newer one, info on the older one here. The newer one is a little cheaper Bloomington Shuttle Service One of the campus visitors said it was much easier to get to the Indianapolis Airport from Bloomington without a car than it was from Fishers.

[Toxic Toast]

The lady friend's b-i-l rode his bike from southern Lafayette to the Purdue campus while aquiring his PhD. He lived in a very quiet neighborhood. There are quiet neighborhoods closer to campus as well within two miles. The areas right by campus along 26 where the businesses and Wabash Landing seem the loudest; and it seemed (to me) the areas north of the campus (Northwestern Ave) were a little quieter. I however was never a student at Purdue, just a frequent visitor to campus to see friends and watch football and basketball games. CityBus is pretty reliable if you want to ride the bus as well.

[ogre]

Thanks for the info, everyone. Those links provide some useful details, and the opinions on specific neighborhoods and apartments are very helpful. Car-free in Bloomington looks workable. Thanks again for offering your thoughts.

[Tylerrul02]

Now I am only a high school student so I don't how informative my post compared to the previous posters but I will try my best.

In terms of of quieter neighborhoods I think LAF/W. LAF would be your best bet. I would agree with Toxic Toast that the quieter areas in West LAF would be north of State St. and North&East of Northwestern Ave. If you want to live in on-campus the only hall that I believe there is is Hawkins Hall and Purdue Village. Hawkins Hall is pretty clean and quiet as well. Hawkins Hall link: Hawkins Hall :: Purdue University :: Housing and Food Services (http://www.housing.purdue.edu/html/HOUSHawkins.htm - broken link)
As for Lafayette the most noisy area would have to be Downtown especially during events, concerts, etc but even downtown is very quiet. But other than that most of Lafayette is relatively quiet.

For walability, anywhere near the riverfront and downtown would be your most walkable areas, and maybe even by the apartments along Sagamore Pkwy. on the Westside. Also check out walkscore.com, which tells the walkablity of location along with distances from nearest eateries, drugstores, grocers, and whatnot.

In my opinion, Greater LAF has an excellent bus system. As a matter of fact I take it to work each day at Purdue lol. You are able to get to every supermarket, strip mall, trail, the Tippy mall, and almost every major point in city by bus. If you are a Purdue student you ride for free. So despite the city not having very many walkable areas you can get almost anywhere by bus as long as you live by a bus line, which most apartments are anyway. Citybus link: CityBus of Greater Lafayette, Indiana

As for getting to the airports Lafayette Limo has shuttle service to Indianaplis airport and Express coach has one O'Hare airport but is a little pricey. Also Amtrak has train that runs from Chicago to Indy and stops here in Lafayette. However, it can take up to 4 hours to get to The Chi b train and 2 hours to Indy, whereas by car it would take 2 hours and 1 hour respectively. I think there is even a grey hound bus running from here to Chicago too.

[ogre]

Well Tylerrul, you obviously know the Laf. area well, so your being in high school is no problem. Lots of good info on your post, in fact. That kind of detail about particular neighborhoods is exactly the kind of info that is especially helpful Thanks.

[babygirl5608]

You have had many replies about IU and they basically said everything that I was planning to say. I have been to W. Lafayette and their public transportation system isn't as good as it is here in Btown. In Btown, many busses run every 10-20minutes (near the shopping areas)..on campus they seem to run about every 5 minutes.

I have a car here, but it is totally do-able to NOT have a car here...there are MANY people who walk or ride their bike as a form of getting to shopping areas...Even if people have cars, many choose to walk or ride simply because, well...its free, AND its a very bike friendly town.

The public transportation is very convenient...as long as you have your student ID, you dont have to pay $$ to get on. The routes are simple and easy to understand. I have also called the main office several times for clarification and they are really nice. At almost every bus stop sign, there is the phone # for the office...I have called while standing at the stop to ask how soon the bus will get there if I happen to be in a hurry or wondered if I had time to go somewhere real quick.

I know route 7 runs every 20mins but only operates during fall and spring semesters...C9 runs every 9 minutes, 6 runs every 20-30mins...I'm sure there's others that run as often but if you have a map of the route..I would suggest searching for apartments near those stops

Good Luck

[ogre]

Thanks for the info, Babygirl. Thanks to everyone who has provided information. Bloomington looks very workable for someone in my shoe-leather circumstances. Lafayette seems that it would work as well, even if the busses don't run quite as often as Bloomington's. Thanks again for all the info. Take care all.