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Hi everyone,
I am trying to make a decision and I would like to get some opinions or advice. I am not looking for harsh words and alot of negativity because this is a serious choice for me.
I am a single mother of two girls, one in high school and one that will be in first grade. I will be finishing my BA in Psych and moving on to my MSW. I have been going back and forth between Orlando and Phoenix, UCF or ASU. I posted a similar post in the Phoenix thread and was not really thrilled with the responses that I received so I was checking to see how you all treated me.
I will have between 12,000 and 15,000 dollars saved, I will be getting financial aid and student loans. I will be initially looking for part time work in the admin/lega/customer service fields. I know that the economy troubles have hit everywhere and everyone, so I am not blind to that but I was wondering if what I want to do is a possibility.
I was just laid off here in Colorado Springs, so I will also have my unemployment for awhile. I can't stay here to go to grad school because the one school in the Springs that offers that program is a private college and I can not afford it. I would be moving a year before I would start school as to gain my residency and not pay out of state fees.
Can anyone help me by being honest and kind at the same time?
We would be looking for a small house, I have a dog, and obviously in a safe neighborhood. I am not afraid to do whatever it takes to better myself and work toward that goal.
Thank you in advance to any and all responses!
I should add that I have been thinking and researching different areas for a couple of years now and this is the year I have to do it...I have saved and saved and I believe it is now or never
Thanks again in advance
I have to say UCF is an excellent school. I have a few friends that have attended there. Keep in mind if you haven't lived here at least a year, you'll have to pay out-of-state tuition. I see that is your plan, which I think is a smart one. There are nice and safe areas to live in around Orlando. Don't let the naysayers tell you different. If you're attending UCF, you may want to check out Oviedo. It's in Seminole County where I recommend you live for the schools. What is your price range for rent?
I have to say UCF is an excellent school. I have a few friends that have attended there. Keep in mind if you haven't lived here at least a year, you'll have to pay out-of-state tuition. I see that is your plan, which I think is a smart one. There are nice and safe areas to live in around Orlando. Don't let the naysayers tell you different. If you're attending UCF, you may want to check out Oviedo. It's in Seminole County where I recommend you live for the schools. What is your price range for rent?
Thank you so much for that response, positive right off the bat
Yes, I will be there for a year before I start so I can have In State tuition benefit.
I was thinking between $1000-1200 for rent? It's a little broad and I would like to stay at the lower end just because I'm not sure how hard it will be for me to find a job. But with my savings, this range should be doable.
Thank you for your suggestion on Oviedo. I will look into that.
If you think of anything else, please advise.
Hi soontob,
I'm an ASU undergrad student looking to attend UCF in about a year. I'm not the one to ask about Florida yet, but I can let you know about ASU and its surrounding area Tempe, which I'm assuming is where you'll be looking to move to. I'm a little jaded about ASU, since they aren't the kindest to undergrad transfers (which I am), but I'll try to be unbiased. However, I truly do not believe that ASU offers anything more than a standard state school.
Housing around here is more expensive the closer to ASU since it's also the downtown area for Tempe, but it's not that wide of a radius. I live in a one bedroom apartment about 2 miles away from campus and my rent is about $700. There's not too many college kids starting about this distance, which leaves the area a little quieter. I think your price range would be quite possible.
I ride the bus to school, since parking costs at least $210 a year for a lot that's a bit far from campus, to $780 a year for the close lots.
( Parking Permit Locations: Tempe | ASU ) A bus pass costs $80 for the year. They keep raising all these costs each year though, i.e. the bus pass was free last year.
I did not attend highschool in Tempe, but I can vouch for the Mesa Public School system. Extracurriculars like music, drama, sports, and academic clubs are the norm for Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale...pretty much the whole Phoenix area.
Safety-wise, I don't think the Phoenix suburbs are particularly bad. I personally don't care for Phoenix itself. In the 'burbs there are some pockets both really bad and really good, the prices usually reflect that. I'd be happy to try to answer more specifics if you'd like.
I think our transportation system is better in the Phoenix area than in Orlando. We have freeways, not tollroads, although they can get pretty conjested. The bus system is pretty decent in Tempe. And there's a new light rail stretching from the western edge of Mesa, through Tempe, up to Downtown Phoenix and a few more miles north of there.Takes about 45 min to get from ASU's stop to downtown and driving without traffic takes about 15 20 min.
Now for a little biased bit. I always feel like my sister and I are getting screwed over at ASU. My financial aid hasn't come in this semester, they don't take my sister's transfer credits, some of there required classes are a little silly, they pad their student to teacher ratio with a required meaningless class capped at 19 students per class, where as my undergrad classes are rarely going to see less than 33 students (I'm sure this is different with graduate classes, which by nature are pretty small), and they've more than doubled tuition from the time I was in highschool. Again, these are personal biases, and it seems like all my friends are having wonderful ASU experiences. I think ASU is out to get me.
Hope some of this helps! Feel free to ask more specific questions. If I don't know the answers I can ask around a bit.
Hi soontob,
I'm an ASU undergrad student looking to attend UCF in about a year. I'm not the one to ask about Florida yet, but I can let you know about ASU and its surrounding area Tempe, which I'm assuming is where you'll be looking to move to. I'm a little jaded about ASU, since they aren't the kindest to undergrad transfers (which I am), but I'll try to be unbiased. However, I truly do not believe that ASU offers anything more than a standard state school.
Housing around here is more expensive the closer to ASU since it's also the downtown area for Tempe, but it's not that wide of a radius. I live in a one bedroom apartment about 2 miles away from campus and my rent is about $700. There's not too many college kids starting about this distance, which leaves the area a little quieter. I think your price range would be quite possible.
I ride the bus to school, since parking costs at least $210 a year for a lot that's a bit far from campus, to $780 a year for the close lots.
( Parking Permit Locations: Tempe | ASU ) A bus pass costs $80 for the year. They keep raising all these costs each year though, i.e. the bus pass was free last year.
I did not attend highschool in Tempe, but I can vouch for the Mesa Public School system. Extracurriculars like music, drama, sports, and academic clubs are the norm for Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale...pretty much the whole Phoenix area.
Safety-wise, I don't think the Phoenix suburbs are particularly bad. I personally don't care for Phoenix itself. In the 'burbs there are some pockets both really bad and really good, the prices usually reflect that. I'd be happy to try to answer more specifics if you'd like.
I think our transportation system is better in the Phoenix area than in Orlando. We have freeways, not tollroads, although they can get pretty conjested. The bus system is pretty decent in Tempe. And there's a new light rail stretching from the western edge of Mesa, through Tempe, up to Downtown Phoenix and a few more miles north of there.Takes about 45 min to get from ASU's stop to downtown and driving without traffic takes about 15 20 min.
Now for a little biased bit. I always feel like my sister and I are getting screwed over at ASU. My financial aid hasn't come in this semester, they don't take my sister's transfer credits, some of there required classes are a little silly, they pad their student to teacher ratio with a required meaningless class capped at 19 students per class, where as my undergrad classes are rarely going to see less than 33 students (I'm sure this is different with graduate classes, which by nature are pretty small), and they've more than doubled tuition from the time I was in highschool. Again, these are personal biases, and it seems like all my friends are having wonderful ASU experiences. I think ASU is out to get me.
Hope some of this helps! Feel free to ask more specific questions. If I don't know the answers I can ask around a bit.
Wow, thank you so much for all that information. It sounds like you have had a rough go of it at ASU. Is that why you are trying to transfer to UCF?
So, when you say that Phoenix has freeways as opposed to Tollroads, are tollroads the only option in Orlando? I'm not sure we would be using a lot of public transportation so we would be driving more. Just curious if I would need to budget for tolls
As much as I love the idea of being in Phoenix and closer to California, (which is my hometown), I have really been leaning towards to Florida. Especially when I posted in the Phoenix thread and was basically told it would never work and I'd go broke.
I am really trying to see if my moving to the Orlando area is a possibility without a job lined up but; a good chunk of savings and income when I get there.
I have also heard that the public schools in Phoenix and the surrounding areas leave a lot to be desired and that does worry me with my kids.
I'm curious as to why they won't accept your sisters credits? What is the reason that they are giving?
Good luck to you with getting out of ASU.
Wow, thank you so much for all that information. It sounds like you have had a rough go of it at ASU. Is that why you are trying to transfer to UCF?
So, when you say that Phoenix has freeways as opposed to Tollroads, are tollroads the only option in Orlando? I'm not sure we would be using a lot of public transportation so we would be driving more. Just curious if I would need to budget for tolls
As much as I love the idea of being in Phoenix and closer to California, (which is my hometown), I have really been leaning towards to Florida. Especially when I posted in the Phoenix thread and was basically told it would never work and I'd go broke.
I am really trying to see if my moving to the Orlando area is a possibility without a job lined up but; a good chunk of savings and income when I get there.
I have also heard that the public schools in Phoenix and the surrounding areas leave a lot to be desired and that does worry me with my kids.
I'm curious as to why they won't accept your sisters credits? What is the reason that they are giving?
Good luck to you with getting out of ASU.
Not a problem. And thanks, we can all use a little good luck!
Looking at a map of Orlando I've only seen one freeway, I-4, which turns into a toll road south of Disney. Everything else seems to be a toll road. A local would obviously know a lot more about it than I. I'll be trying to live close to the place I commute to the most (Disney), and plan for traffic on surface streets to school.
I had a great education in Mesa. I lived in zipcode 85205 and the public schools in the surrounding area were great. Mountain View Highschool is a very good school (but they're a little arrogant about it, heh). I've known many people across the valley they seem to have turned out fine and are proud of their schools (and not in spite of anything). Although the crowd I mingled with were involved in Orchestra, which usually has many accelerating students. The east side, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Chandler seems better off than west side, Glendale, and Phoenix (always been west to me).
Los Angeles is about a 6 hour drive from here. I've often packed up for the weekend to head out there. Sacramento is about 14 hours away, I think. Don't get up to NorCal much.
Just speculation, but I think you could make either Orlando or Phoenix work. Both places have had the housing market bubble burst recently. Orlando more so. Phoenix does seem to be a bigger metropolis, so there might be more job opportunities overall here. But Orlando is big in the hospitality business what with the theme parks there, so there's a good number of customer service jobs. I do not know the unemployment rate for either.
I'm moving to Florida mostly to get my foot in the door with Disney. The cost of living, and schooling is a little bit cheaper in Orlando (to my understanding) so that might make things easier for you and I both
I'm also dissatisfied with how my major (Mechanical Engineering) is set up at ASU; UCF seems to have it down better, even though ASU's program ranks higher then UCF. An example is a class I'm in right now is rushing what is essentially the foundations of my major so it all fits into one semester. UCF (and previously ASU) breaks this into two semesters to really focus on it.
My sister has been to many different colleges for her undergrad out of necessity. Their programs have been set up differently such as an advanced writing class doesn't count as ENG 101 and 102. Just silly gen ed things, they say aren't the equivalent of their classes. She's looking to leave, too.
Please have a job lined up before making such a big move. You have a young child that is just starting school and one that is finishing. It will be tough on them if things don't work out here. You can rent anything for the price you stated but you may need a car here as public transportation is poor. Look into the school districts before deciding on where to rent .
UCF is a constantly growing school with a Med school coming on line. Its reputation is growing for the better. We also have a Vets hospital due to open 2012. Have you looked into the requirements for practice as an MSW in Florida? I'm not very familiar with whats needed after graduating but had a brother in law that went your same route about 12 yrs ago. He moved down from NYC after accumulating mountains of student loan debt with the hope of landing a great job. He had to have a mentor in order for him to get licensed in Fl after he graduated. He had interviewed with the big hospitals here and ended up working for a adolescent psych/rehab center. He wasn't happy with his pay at the time but lucked out when his Brother in law (who is a psychiatrist) offered him a great job for double his pay. The only catch was he had to move to Fargo N.D. in February. btw he still lives there.
I'm not sure if the story is of any relevance but he was in a similar quandary with two young children at the time.
I just read through your post in the Phoenix section. That guy was pretty negative.
But I see now that your program is offered at West or Downtown campuses. I was offering information about Tempe main campus, which is useless to you.
Downtown campus is literally downtown Phoenix. Parking is hard to come by, although I think ASU students have special permits. It might be easier for them. Rent is much higher in that immediate area, so you'd probably have to commute in unless you got lucky. I know there are many smaller houses just a bit to the north of downtown, some nice some not so much. To my understanding crime is higher, since there's more people packed in.
West campus used to be in a heavily agricultural area, but has since grown up. I haven't been by there in years, and never knew too many people out that way. Sorry.
I still hold that the public schools in those areas are a lower than on east side. My family has never been fond of West Valley, since it always seemed more industrialized and smoggy. The outskirts like Avondale seem to be a nice area that really benefitted from the housing boom. I do not know if they've maintained there higher standards or not since the housing market burst.
Please have a job lined up before making such a big move. You have a young child that is just starting school and one that is finishing. It will be tough on them if things don't work out here. You can rent anything for the price you stated but you may need a car here as public transportation is poor. Look into the school districts before deciding on where to rent .
UCF is a constantly growing school with a Med school coming on line. Its reputation is growing for the better. We also have a Vets hospital due to open 2012. Have you looked into the requirements for practice as an MSW in Florida? I'm not very familiar with whats needed after graduating but had a brother in law that went your same route about 12 yrs ago. He moved down from NYC after accumulating mountains of student loan debt with the hope of landing a great job. He had to have a mentor in order for him to get licensed in Fl after he graduated. He had interviewed with the big hospitals here and ended up working for a adolescent psych/rehab center. He wasn't happy with his pay at the time but lucked out when his Brother in law (who is a psychiatrist) offered him a great job for double his pay. The only catch was he had to move to Fargo N.D. in February. btw he still lives there.
I'm not sure if the story is of any relevance but he was in a similar quandary with two young children at the time.
Good Luck with your choice.
I appreciate the thought about having a job lined up first however; it seems to be very difficult for that to happen for someone who is looking at part time employment to supplement while in school. Also, my kids will suffer here as well, considering I was just laid off and at least in Orlando I can continue school whereas I can't here.
No, I have not looked into the requirements specifically but I do know in most areas there are internships I must do as well as licensing requirements which I am fine with and I am also unsure if I would stay in Orlando once school was done.
Thanks also for advising to look at schools, I do plan on doing that because my girls are currently in a bad disctrict especially the High School here.
I do have a car, would not have a need for public transportation. In fact I don't think that I have used public transportation since High School, lol. But; I do appreciate the input.
Seeing as you are there, do you have any input about only Toll Roads being used there and no freeways?
Thanks again
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