Lincoln, Ne or Colorado? (Omaha, Grand Island: apartment, lease, credit)
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I'm not sure if anyone here has any experience living in both areas, but I would love some input.
I've got a lot of info to share, so I'm just going to condense it as much as possible.
Mom died, got house in Jersey. Hate Jersey, selling house. Have to split it 3 ways, am looking to walk away with 40-50K. Also, three way split of 15K saved, but I'm probably going to end up giving most of that 5k away. Also, get 1,300 a month for the next 24 years, 30ishK when I turn 25 (Just turned 22), 50k? at 30, and 100 something at 40.
I currently live in a 3,000ish SqFt house, so I do have a lot of furniture. I don't really want to toss it because it is really expensive and I do not want to just toss/give away my mom's possessions. The furniture was split 3 ways.
Wherever I go I would go to college. Wherever I go I'll pay for a year of county out of pocket (So that I can become a resident), and then transfer to whatever state college. I still have 2.5 years of free tuition thanks to Pell Grant (Went to Rutgers, but I'd rather start again as a freshman. Bad college experience with mother dying).
I don't drink or do any sort of nightlife, so that is non issue. I love the outdoors. I've always lived in Jersey, which is lacking in scenery/good bike trails/nature. The weather doesn't matter, so long as the actual scenery is beautiful. I'm accustomed to extreme heat/cold at this point.
Dating scene is important to me. I would just go to Colorado Springs if it weren't so male dense.
I have a small dog.
I would really rather not work during college (Or at most, weekends). I feel like Fort Collins is more of what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure my financial situation would allow me to live comfortably without working a fair bit during school. Because of my furniture, I can't just get a studio. My outside expenses are very low. I eat on ~150 a month. I own my car, no debt or anything. I have a CCNA certification and an A+ and coding experience.
My likely college route will be Biology for undergrad/Physical therapy for grad school... Or possibly even law school. I figure my best option will be Biology undergrad with a pre med minor, to keep all options open.
I don't really have any family to cosign a lease, so my best option will likely be offering the entirety of the lease upfront.
Any suggestions/advice? I know my writing style seems pretty impersonal on this, but I wanted to keep it short...ish.
First of all, unless all that furniture is of exceptional value, it will likely cost more to move it from New Jersey to Nebraska or Colorado than it is worth. The old adage of "save the memories, get rid of the stuff" is probably good advice for a person in your situation.
I have some familiarity with both CSU and UNL, having friends and relatives who have attended and graduated from both. CSU is a very good school for the natural resource (forestry, range management, etc.) disciplines and has an excellent veterinary school. It's biology department is pretty good, too. For things that are in any way medical related, though, I would choose the University of Nebraska system--be that in Lincoln or Omaha. CSU does not have a law school. For that in the Rocky Mountain region, my top school choices are Denver University (private and very expensive), Colorado University, or the University of Wyoming (which has a pretty good law school for a very small university).
A key consideration will be out-of-state tuition. Colorado's state universities and colleges are facing serious financial distress and are drastically raising out-of-state tuition to try to close some of that gap. How Colorado's out-of-state tuition compares with Nebraska's, I do not know, but I would check that out. Colorado's festering budget problems are likely to negatively impact the quality of its institutions of higher education within a few years. Living costs in Lincoln or Omaha will almost certainly be less than in Fort Collins.
No, Nebraska does not have spectacular scenery like Colorado (but Nebraska has its own beauty), but scenery is not what you are going to college for. You need to get the best bang for your buck--wherever that is.
First of all, unless all that furniture is of exceptional value, it will likely cost more to move it from New Jersey to Nebraska or Colorado than it is worth. The old adage of "save the memories, get rid of the stuff" is probably good advice for a person in your situation.
I have some familiarity with both CSU and UNL, having friends and relatives who have attended and graduated from both. CSU is a very good school for the natural resource (forestry, range management, etc.) disciplines and has an excellent veterinary school. It's biology department is pretty good, too. For things that are in any way medical related, though, I would choose the University of Nebraska system--be that in Lincoln or Omaha. CSU does not have a law school. For that in the Rocky Mountain region, my top school choices are Denver University (private and very expensive), Colorado University, or the University of Wyoming (which has a pretty good law school for a very small university).
A key consideration will be out-of-state tuition. Colorado's state universities and colleges are facing serious financial distress and are drastically raising out-of-state tuition to try to close some of that gap. How Colorado's out-of-state tuition compares with Nebraska's, I do not know, but I would check that out. Colorado's festering budget problems are likely to negatively impact the quality of its institutions of higher education within a few years. Living costs in Lincoln or Omaha will almost certainly be less than in Fort Collins.
No, Nebraska does not have spectacular scenery like Colorado (but Nebraska has its own beauty), but scenery is not what you are going to college for. You need to get the best bang for your buck--wherever that is.
The cost of purchasing a larger U Haul isn't "terribly" expensive. That being said, the total value of the furniture I'm bringing easily cost over $100,000. I'm expecting my total moving costs to be around 5 thousand, as I'll need to bring a UHaul, and my car.
I would only be paying for a year out of state at county. I would take winter/summer courses as well in an attempt to complete two years in one. I'm getting a little older and given that I've already spent 4 years in college, I need to hurry up with the program.
I do understand that if I went to FoCo, I would inevitably need to move for graduate school. I also posted this on the FoCo board and have gotten much more responses, with a breakdown of a typical FoCo budget. They say that with the amount of money I have, it should be entirely possible. I, however, am not nearly as sure.
I looked up the rankings, and for physical therapy programs, University of Colorado Denver and UNMC look to be pretty comparable. I do realize that this would be one additional move, with all the associated costs of moving. I'm also operating on the assumption that I will have grad school debt. I should be able to float undergrad, but I don't believe I can also float grad.
A fellow on the FoCo board told me that Lincoln isn't that much cheaper than FoCo. Perhaps, 100-200 a month more in total costs. I feel like it's a larger saving than this from what I've seen.
I'm sure I can do no wrong with either city, as they both appear to be some of the best midwestern cities. Chances are, I'd apply to both the University of Colorado and UNMC. I'll probably just be happy not to be in Jersey anymore.
Uh, Fort Collins is not a "Midwestern city." The Rocky Mountain region is not considered part of the Midwest. Never was, not now.
Apologies if I offended. In the NE, we pretty much call everything from Nebraska to immediately prior to the coast the midwest. It's a poor generalization.
First of all, unless all that furniture is of exceptional value, it will likely cost more to move it from New Jersey to Nebraska or Colorado than it is worth. The old adage of "save the memories, get rid of the stuff" is probably good advice for a person in your situation.
I have some familiarity with both CSU and UNL, having friends and relatives who have attended and graduated from both. CSU is a very good school for the natural resource (forestry, range management, etc.) disciplines and has an excellent veterinary school. It's biology department is pretty good, too. For things that are in any way medical related, though, I would choose the University of Nebraska system--be that in Lincoln or Omaha. CSU does not have a law school. For that in the Rocky Mountain region, my top school choices are Denver University (private and very expensive), Colorado University, or the University of Wyoming (which has a pretty good law school for a very small university).
A key consideration will be out-of-state tuition. Colorado's state universities and colleges are facing serious financial distress and are drastically raising out-of-state tuition to try to close some of that gap. How Colorado's out-of-state tuition compares with Nebraska's, I do not know, but I would check that out. Colorado's festering budget problems are likely to negatively impact the quality of its institutions of higher education within a few years. Living costs in Lincoln or Omaha will almost certainly be less than in Fort Collins.
No, Nebraska does not have spectacular scenery like Colorado (but Nebraska has its own beauty), but scenery is not what you are going to college for. You need to get the best bang for your buck--wherever that is.
I agree with most of this, in particularly the furniture. If it's worth 100,000, then selling it would help with paying tuition AND remove the need to get a bigger apartment. Unless it's incredibly important, which if it is by all means keep it.
The only part I really don't agree with is the last paragraph. Yes, finding the best bang for your buck is a good thing but location MUST be considered. He'll be in class a few hours a day but he'll be in Ft. Collins or Lincoln 24/7.
I agree with most of this, in particularly the furniture. If it's worth 100,000, then selling it would help with paying tuition AND remove the need to get a bigger apartment. Unless it's incredibly important, which if it is by all means keep it.
The only part I really don't agree with is the last paragraph. Yes, finding the best bang for your buck is a good thing but location MUST be considered. He'll be in class a few hours a day but he'll be in Ft. Collins or Lincoln 24/7.
The biggest problem I have with FoCo is the non resident tuition. It's much beyond my budget, so I would have to wait until I became a resident to go to school. It was something like 450 dollars per credit hour at county college. That's simply not in my budget, and I have no intention to sit around for 1-2 years after moving to go back to school. I'm getting a little old for that kind of time.
For that sort of money I could go to Lincoln, and spend the summer/winter vacationing in Ecuador or Belize to get my nature fix.
I intend on getting rid of some of the furniture, but I'm keeping a manageable bit of it.
I recently moved to Denver (city proper) from Omaha. I lived all over Nebraska, Grand Island, Central City, but the majority was Omaha. I can't speak on the schools; I know nothing about them. The main difference is going to be culture. Nebraska is a state with families that don't really move out of Nebraska that much, and most of the population growth of the state is from Nebraskan babies. There are people all over the state from all over the world, yes, but not on the level of Colorado, where it's very rare to find colorado natives. For this reason Nebraska has a definate culture, ie food, accent, ways of life. Many businesses are local and have been open for decades, sometimes in Omaha and Lincoln, over 100 years. In the Denver-Boulder area, there are so many people from out of state that the 'culture' is hard to define. Everything is much newer, more expensive, more impersonal. You might easily be accepted here by other new-comers. In Nebraska, you might easily be accepted by natives. We Nebraskans have been described as 'clannish'. This is not entirely untrue, for reasons such as the afore-mentioned long-term residents, and being alot like the South in terms of having defined circles of friends. Nebraska is a very underrated place, but ultimately there is no way to tell where you'll be happier.
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