Is San Jose a good place for a college student? (Los Angeles: rent, credit)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Well, nobody really cares where you went to college as long as you have the degree.

I don't disagree...which is why he should probably go elsewhere....get the same degree somewhere else for less money.

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Totally disagree. It's off the charts if you have housing expectations which are incompatible with living in a major city.

Ok, so tell me what someone who is going to school full time can actually afford in this area? Even renting a room/dorms can be expensive. That's how people end up drowning in student loan debt.

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Ballet San Jose
Welcome to Symphony Silicon Valley
Calendar | San Jose Theaters
The Tech Museum of Innovation
Night Life - Downtown San Jose: Silicon Valley's City Center
Nightlife Downtown, San Jose, CA

You were saying?

The arts & culture scene in SJ is weak for a city of almost 1M people. Your links merely prove that the arts & culture scene is ok/not nonexistent. That's good...but it's still weak for a city its size. Almost everyone who lives here agrees with that....and for good reason. If you think otherwise, then you probably haven't lived anywhere else.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I didn't mention much about Monterey...this is just what I've heard through the grapevine...but it's a smallish school and the course offerings just aren't that good. And of course, the cost of living there is only a bit cheaper than San Jose.

I was asking the OP. I wonder why the interest exclusively in 2nd-tier colleges.

[Local123]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

'Cause it's true. Just because SV isn't 100% introvert doesn't mean it doesn't strongly lean that way.

We can agree to disagree. But truthfully as an introvert I fail to even see why introverts are considered a "less than." I don't think being extrovert makes a person more fun to be around at all. I do have great friends and go out often but I am most definitely an introvert. I don't consider extroverts superior to introverts at all. That said I know plenty of extroverts including my kids. So there you go...two new extroverts in SJ already!!!

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I was asking the OP. I wonder why the interest exclusively in 2nd-tier colleges.

Yes, I know you were asking the OP, I was just adding a comment.

I sort of wondered why no UC schools were mentioned. I just assumed maybe the OP doesn't think he/she can get into a UC.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Ok, so tell me what someone who is going to school full time can actually afford in this area?

They said they wanted to go to a CSU, so just go to a community college for general ed and then transfer to CSU. Saves a lot of money. At that point it's more a question of having time to do it. If you're working you're probably not going to pull full time student load (12 units). It's probably going to be one or two classes a quarter/semester.

A community college in California is $31 per unit. A typical class such as Calculus would be 5 units. A nonresident does have to pay $149 per unit extra, but it sounds like this person intends to be a California resident.

Anyway, I have taken some college classes while living here and working full time, although that probably doesn't count because I earned the GI Bill while protecting civilians from the real world in the US Navy. I actually have 75 units completed, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to actually get the degree. Real life interferes. And IT certifications may prove adequate for what I want to do. We'll see.

Seems like people who make a lot more money than I do complain about a lot of stupid things on here. Just because you can't buy a single family home in a good school district doesn't mean $100k is not a good salary here. It is an excellent salary. You know what mine is? About $15k, after taxes etc. That's minimum wage in the City of San Jose ($10.15/hr, full time). So if someone makes 100k that's 6.7 times my salary. Think about that before complaining.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Seanathan1

Hi, I'm American currently going to high school and living overseas with my folks. I'm going to college soon, and since I really don't have family anywhere in the states, (and they're staying overseas in Europe) I can really go anywhere I want and it wouldn't be that much a difference. I've been looking at schools in California recently, as I've always wanted to go there. I kind of want to start fresh in the state, and start building my life on the west coast, so I'm looking at the Cal State Schools.

I'm currently looking at CSU - Monterey, San Jose, and Sacramento.

I think San Jose would be cool because it's a large city not far from the coast, nor that far from the valley and only a drive away from San Fransisco. I've never lived in a city before though. How does it compare with other schools/places in the state? Thanks for your imput!

OP, I think you'd love living in San Jose! You can live on-campus at San Jose State, which has a great reputation as a great college.

Housing Options | San Jose State University

San Jose is a nice big city, and you're right, you can hop on Cal-Train and go to San Francisco. You're also only about 30 minutes from the beach at Santa Cruz, and you can even take a bus from the train station to Santa Cruz, if you won't have a car. You can catch Amtrak in downtown SJ and go to Berkeley or Jack London Square in Oakland.

It's a great location, with a great college, in an area with great weather. And since you can live on campus, you'll not have to worry about looking for an apartment, and you will meet friends quickly.

Definitely check out the bike parties!

San José Bike Party | Building community through bicycling

I was living in Santa Clara, and one evening I heard some unusual noise. I lived right next to Santa Clara University. I looked out my window and there were literally thousands of people on bicycles who had taken over the street next to my apartment! It looks like so much fun. If I'd been younger, I'd have joined them.

I think Monterey is beautiful, but I think you'd get bored there. It's too isolated from the big city fun. And there have been problems transferring credits from Monterey's college, too, for some reason. Can't remember details, but I looked into going there at one point, and had heard something about credits not transferring and learned that there was some truth to that, so I chose not to go there. Can't remember details. If you get serious about going to Monterey, be sure and look into that.

And the Sacramento area is hot and flat and has bad traffic - used to live there, too. You could find fun there, and there are arts, etc., etc. But, it's dang hot in summer, and just nowhere near as nice as living in the Bay Area. If you are going to have to deal with bad traffic, might as well be in the Bay Area with better weather and more stuff to do, IMO.

You could save money by going to the community colleges, it's true. And they're great schools. But, they won't have on-campus housing. And on-campus housing will be the easiest, safest way for you to move to the states on your own, and make friends quickly.

Come to CA! You'll love it. And I think you'll love living in the Bay Area. San Francisco State University is really nice, too. But, the weather is colder there. But, it would be my second choice.

Good luck on your adventure. Sounds like fun.

[cardinal2007]

I think the biggest differences between the 3 is where they are, CSU Sacramento is in a more suburban part of Sacramento, CSU Monterey Bay is actually not in Monterey, but isolated on the way to Monterey, while SJSU is actually right in downtown San Jose. Monterey is a small town by the ocean, and has a nice downtown around Cannery Row, that will be 8 miles from CSU, 13 minute drive without traffic, but the question is will you ever actually go there, I know for me personally when I was in college I couldn't afford a car first of all, and probably too busy to spend 1hr on public transit to get to downtown, unless there was something interesting going on then. This would be more ideal if you want a more isolated setting by the beach.

CSU Sacramento is 4 miles from downtown Sacramento, in the suburbs, in this case you're only a 30 minute bus ride from downtown, and transit is frequent, you can also take the transit to Amtrak, takes about 30 minutes as well, and then take the train to SF (transfer to a shuttle) and be in SF in around 2 more hours, so 2:30 total. Sacramento has it's own NBA team, and a minor league baseball team which you can see, if you care about that sort of stuff, it is also much closer to skiing than the other two options. This will be more ideal if you prefer a more suburban setting.

SJSU is right next to downtown San Jose, or you could say in downtown, which would be an urban setting, with the ups and downs of being in an urban setting, a lot of restaurants around, just a short walking distance, coffee shops, bars, but on the downside people sometimes shouting at night, homeless people sleeping on the street, somewhat higher crime than the sleepy suburbs 3 miles away. You can get to NHL games, or concerts at SAP center a mile away (there is a free downtown shuttle that takes you to Caltrain) SF is 1 hr away by Caltrain (12 min shuttle to get to Caltrain), you would have to drive over the Santa Cruz mountains 1/2 hr to get to the beach, or take the 17 Express, which would be 50m-1hr, plus the 12min shuttle. The Bay Area as a metro area also has a lot more to do than Sacramento area, granted getting to Oakland Coliseum, or AT&T Park takes a while on transit (about 1hr), but if you want to do that stuff you can, as opposed to the other 2 places.
This would be more ideal if you prefer a more urban setting, or being in a bigger metro area.

[sonarrat]

The thing that people don't realize, as regards housing costs, is all universities are kind of hideous in terms of cost of room and board.. even if they are in cheaper areas. So the COL thing is less of an issue than it would be for anyone else. On the other hand, if you want to live off-campus, well, you can forget it.

[twins4lynn]

All three of the CSU's are fine, but some may be a better fit than others depending upon what you plan to major in. Also, check out Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Cal Poly - Welcome to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California it's a very good CSU, located mid-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and is one of the few CSU's located in a college town.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

On the other hand, if you want to live off-campus, well, you can forget it.

What are you talking about, man?? 90% of the population in the houses surrounding SJSU are college students. They get together on leases. Two to a room, in many cases. It turns out that the law in San Jose says two people for every 100 square feet of residential living space. So you couldn't have 3 people to a room, but you could have 2.

When I lived in downtown, we had a one bedroom apartment. The rent was $966. This was one street west of Naglee Park. I had the bedroom for $600 a month, and the two roommates shared the living room for $366 total. $30 each person in utilities.

That's how most of them are doing it. Not just college students either. Engineers who work at Apple and Cisco, etc.