CHEAP student housing in the St. Paul area? (Woodbury, Oakdale: sublet, apartments)

[silveradogirl]

I'm considering relocating to the St. Paul area for grad school. Can anyone recommend some very affordable housing options, or suggestions on places to look for roommates? (By places I mean more geographical areas..I'm not at all familiar with MN and I don't want to accidentally get suckered into renting in a bad area). It's likely I will be working very little or not at all while living there, so affordability is my largest concern. I also have a horse that's coming with me, so a place to keep him is also something I'm looking for (doesn't have to be where I'm living, but a situation where I could live and keep him on the property and/or potentially work off some of his costs would be PERFECT). Ideal location: As close to the Concordia St. Paul campus as possible

Many thanks in advance - this opportunity just arose and I'm frantically trying to get my ducks in a row so to speak!

[rzzz]

Pretty sure you won't find horse parking but the area right over by Concordia St. Paul is one of the cheaper neighborhoods to rent in, especially on the other side of 94.

[golfgal]

I know there are some horse farms out in the Lake Elmo/Oakdale area and that's reasonably close to Concordia St. Paul--assuming you have a car. I'm not sure how to search for something like you want though--Craigslist???

[silveradogirl]

The horse and housing can be totally separate (I do have a car), I just thought I'd throw both needs out there in case anyone is aware of any situations that might have both.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by silveradogirl

The horse and housing can be totally separate (I do have a car), I just thought I'd throw both needs out there in case anyone is aware of any situations that might have both.

Define cheep though...

Have you checked with Concordia? They probably have an apartment board. Another option might be if you can be an RA. You would get free housing usually with that.

Windy Ridge Ranch This is in Woodbury and wouldn't be too bad of a drive either to live there (not sure if that's an option) or boarding.

Circle C Ranch Horse Boarding | Stillwater, MN another option--address is Stillwater but it's closer to Lake Elmo and still easy enough to get to.

Maybe call a couple of these places and ask about boarding and then say you are interested in exchanging work for living and do they know of anyone in the area looking for help.

[jzeig104]

my nephew has horse boarding east of the Twin Cities on the WI side of the St. Croix River. Its about 30 miles from where you are going to be living. I would think you could work off some of the cost. PM me if you are interested.

Their site says this hall is for first year female students: Concordia St. Paul - Luther Hall
If you are older, they might jump at the chance to have you as a resident assistant, as gg mentioned

I noticed Macalester has some apartments listed on-line. Not really cheap, but you might get a lead from someone on something reasonable:
Apartments - Off Campus Living - Macalester College
here is a subletter listing too: Roommates - Off Campus Living - Macalester College

Call Concordia and see if they have a similar list.

Also, go on Craigslist and look for something in the neighborhood of Snelling/Hamline south of 94. Also, I noticed some student housing in the area of Randolf and Lexington that might work. There is a Trader Joe's grocery there, too.

[Mason3000]

Try www.Oodle.com I have no affiliation with them but you can look for apartments on there & they usually have lot's of students looking to let/sublet a room in their houses. Just a guess, but at this time of year there should be plenty of rooms since school is almost out & many students go home for the summer.

You'll want to be looking in following neighborhoods: Hamline-Midway, Summit-U, Como Park, Merriam Park, Newel Park. A little further away & generally more expensive, but worth searching are St Anthony Park & Mac-Groveland. A little rougher around the edges, but more affordable is Thomas-Dale

[uptown_urbanist]

I'd check with your program. At my grad school, many of the apartments were passed down year after year, and never even made it to the point of being advertised in public. The landlords liked the steady stream of responsible grad students, while the students moving to a new area had the comfort of knowing that the apartments had a bit of a student seal of approval. Same thing with roommates. I am not familiar with Concordia, but they may even have an office or a designated person who can help you to connect with other students looking for apartments or roommates. Or even just email some of the current grad students in the program directly and ask if they know of any roommate or rental openings -- lots of grad students will either be moving out, will need roommates, or will have friends who will be moving and/or will have openings, and there's a comfort factor that comes from renting to/from/with another student in the same program or school. There's a very strong word-of-mouth network in grad school and people are generally very willing to help out if they can.

[xandrex]

I think it all comes down to two things:

-What is cheap to you?
-What is safe to you?

And I suppose another question:

-How much proximity do you want to the campus?

If your budget was something like $300 and you want absolutely no crime and to be able to walk to the university in 5 minutes, then your options are limited. If your budget is more flexible and you plan on driving, you might find more options. Or maybe there's a great place right by campus for not a whole lot of money. But we sort of need to know more details.