daughter wishes to attend Mesa College in San Diego (Vista: apartment complexes, rentals)

[covite]

My daughter will be graduating high school and has decided to attend Mesa College, San Diego. We live in Humboldt County and wonder how easy this transition will be and if there is an area of safe, affordable housing and where that might be. Any thoughts?

[kettlepot]

Mesa College is located at the border between Clairemont and Linda Vista in a part of the city of the city built out in the 1950s and 60s. Clairemont is the safer neighborhood of the two. The zip code is 92117.

The majority of the area is single family homes, with larger apartment complexes built on the main thoroughfares. These 1970s era complexes are your daughter's best bet for 'affordable' housing. The newer complexes in Mission Valley, besides being further away from school, are much more expensive.

I lived in one of these complexes in the past and thought it was fine. However, other posters have had negative comments about some of the other complexes in the area. Clairemont is not an unsafe area. Your daughter just needs to take the usual precautions that women need to take where ever they are.

The best bets for your daughter for affordability and safety would be apartment complexes off of Balboa Avenue rather than Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. That will offer proximity to school and distance from the issues that exist in Linda Vista. Plus, grocery and other shopping will be very close by.

[covite]

Thank you for such a thorough reply. We will review the area you have suggested and check out the apartments over a school break.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by covite

Thank you for such a thorough reply. We will review the area you have suggested and check out the apartments over a school break.

There are also some nice rentals off of Gennessee. It just depends on how far from school you want to be.

[covite]

Again. thank you for another avenue (forgive the pun) to take under advisement.

[jarfykk]

Originally Posted by covite

My daughter will be graduating high school and has decided to attend Mesa College, San Diego. We live in Humboldt County and wonder how easy this transition will be and if there is an area of safe, affordable housing and where that might be. Any thoughts?

Not to dash your daughter's dreams, but with the California budget so constrained, courses at community colleges, like Mesa, are extraordinarily impacted. I applaud anyone pursuing a higher education, but incurring the high cost-of-living in San Diego to attend a more-or-less average junior college might not be the best use of resources. Students are taking longer and longer (if at all) to transfer to Cal State or UC schools...maybe living at home and attending the local JC would be the best bet, then transfer to a UC/Cal State once the requirements are met (it might take well over the nominal 2 years to do so).

That said, if money is not that large of a concern, then by all means do so, San Diego is a wonderful place to live, fine weather (compared to Humboldt Cty), Mesa is a decent school, area is decent. Keep in mind that the area around Mesa is mostly a working-class neighborhood, not any more dangerous than much of San Diego for violent crime, just with higher property crime rates (e.g. theft, vandalism). There are numerous apartment complexes of varying sizes and amenities, studios can likely be had in the $800+ range, with a lot of variation. One definitely wants to look at the apartment you'll be renting, or at minimum the complex and street, as some can be quite dated in the run-down sense of the word. The area is central to everywhere in San Diego, ~15-20 minutes to the water, ~15 minutes to excellent shopping venues, ~15 minutes to downtown, ~30 minutes to state and local parks, ~40 minutes to Mexico (not recommended these days)....

Parking can be a major issue at Mesa, so living within walking distance is a plus. Let us know of any specific questions, happy to help.

Going to school down here is a nice way of getting to know the area to set up a future life down here, decent plan to get one's foot in San Diego's door. If that's the plan, best of luck, but it can be pricey here for a recent high school grad.

Also want you to know the job market is rather poor, particularly for unskilled jobs like waiters and other typical 18yr old jobs, 100 applicants for every minimum wage job.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by jarfykk

Not to dash your daughter's dreams, but with the California budget so constrained, courses at community colleges, like Mesa, are extraordinarily impacted. I applaud anyone pursuing a higher education, but incurring the high cost-of-living in San Diego to attend a more-or-less average junior college might not be the best use of resources. Students are taking longer and longer (if at all) to transfer to Cal State or UC schools...maybe living at home and attending the local JC would be the best bet, then transfer to a UC/Cal State once the requirements are met (it might take well over the nominal 2 years to do so).

That said, if money is not that large of a concern, then by all means do so, San Diego is a wonderful place to live, fine weather (compared to Humboldt Cty), Mesa is a decent school, area is decent. Keep in mind that the area around Mesa is mostly a working-class neighborhood, not any more dangerous than much of San Diego for violent crime, just with higher property crime rates (e.g. theft, vandalism). There are numerous apartment complexes of varying sizes and amenities, studios can likely be had in the $800+ range, with a lot of variation. One definitely wants to look at the apartment you'll be renting, or at minimum the complex and street, as some can be quite dated in the run-down sense of the word. The area is central to everywhere in San Diego, ~15-20 minutes to the water, ~15 minutes to excellent shopping venues, ~15 minutes to downtown, ~30 minutes to state and local parks, ~40 minutes to Mexico (not recommended these days)....

Parking can be a major issue at Mesa, so living within walking distance is a plus. Let us know of any specific questions, happy to help.

Going to school down here is a nice way of getting to know the area to set up a future life down here, decent plan to get one's foot in San Diego's door. If that's the plan, best of luck, but it can be pricey here for a recent high school grad.

Also want you to know the job market is rather poor, particularly for unskilled jobs like waiters and other typical 18yr old jobs, 100 applicants for every minimum wage job.

I agree with most but:

15 minutes to the water? Are you walking?

crime? maybe commercial off Convoy or Linda Vista but Squaremont is called that for a reason. It's boring. LV and Convoy aren't CL. Convoy is in KM.

[jarfykk]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

I agree with most but:

15 minutes to the water? Are you walking?

crime? maybe commercial off Convoy or Linda Vista but Squaremont is called that for a reason. It's boring. LV and Convoy aren't CL. Convoy is in KM.

As I noted, violent crime is minimal, theft (including vehicle-related) is non-trivial. San Diego Regional Crime MAPS has the official SD crime stats, pain to use but has 90 days maps, doing a 1-mile radius around Mesa College has not-a-few property crime dots....not a bad area, just saying what it is. Agree that it is a rather quiet place from the hustle and bustle of downtown, Mission Valley, etc.

Also, if you're on the west side of Clairemont, yes the water is quite close. If you're by Mesa, I'd say 15 minutes is about right....hec, you can get ocean/bay views in parts of Clairemont.

Original poster, if you need a guide to the where the neighborhoods are: http://www.sandiego.gov/neighborhoodmaps/

[covite]

Thanks so much, good useful info all the way around. We realize that it would be far less expensive for our daughter to stay and attend a local JC but she has never experienced city life so we are taking this into account. Also, turning the Titanic around would be easier than changing her mind.

[SFMom]

Another option:

Mesa students can sign up to live in the San Diego State dorms and take advantage of their meal plan. Expensive, but it gave me some peace of mind. We found this to be a good first year option while our daughter got to know the area. Mesa is about a 15-minute drive from SDSU, so your daughter would need a car. The vacation schedules of the two schools don't mesh, so sometimes breaks are a little awkward.