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From a non-goth/emo perspective, I think you may enjoy Tucson.
I think the employment forecast you're getting here is much more dismal than you may actually find. If you have a bachelor's degree, you can get a job making $9-10 per hour. A good job? Not necessarily, but it'll be stable. As long as your boyfriend is working just 10-20 hours per week, you can afford to live in a cheap apartment. They're everywhere in Tucson. If Tucson has one thing, it's cheap housing, particularly when compared with Humboldt.
Deposits are usually one month's rent. That's actually the maximum allowed by state law. However, it's likely you'll be charged an additional non-refundable "cleaning fee" of $100 or so. This is an Arizona thing and I've never understood it (isn't it the previous tenant's responsibility to clean it?), but almost everyone has it.
I think your biggest concern is how different your surroundings are going to be. First, you're in a large city. The crime, particularly property crime, is going to surprise you. You can't leave anything unlocked outside (even on your porch) and can't leave anything of value visible in your car, particularly in cheap apartment complexes. There is a lot of drugs in Tucson, mainly meth. If you ride public transit, then you'll encounter it. You're also many hours from the ocean and in a very different climate. The dry, blue skies may be a novelty at first, but they'll likely get to you after a while. Summers are hot and then more hot. There is no grass. The tap water leaves calcium deposits everywhere. You will need to use lotion constantly. You cannot leave small pets outside because they will be eaten by other animals (seriously).
But I love Tucson.
The Nor Cal folks I've met living there have generally been pretty nice and seem to fit in well there. Go easy on the "in California, we [did something superior to you]" and you'll do better.
acatalanb, thank you for your response. It was very helpful.
I hardly get to go to any other big cities, so I'm sure the entertainment, shopping and transportation of Tucson would be amazing to me lol.
I'm wondering if you know about low level office jobs? I've been checking out the craigslist for Tucson and have seen quite a few receptionist and office assistant jobs. Some that pay around $12 an hour. Do you know if those are actually common? I would work whatever job I could get, but I definitely prefer office work to restaurants and retail :]
And do you know about the Americorps program there? The website has quite a few jobs, and I have been considering that instead of a regular job because of the stipend for repaying school loans.
The rents seem reasonable, but are there high deposits? Here, the deposit is always at least the same as a months rent, but usually more. We're currently renting a small house for $850 and our deposit was $1,200, and this house is not anything super nice or fancy.
I personally don't have a favorable view of employment in Tucson. Even during good times, Tucson job market isn't that great. Tucson is generally a low wage town (pretty much accepted by everyone here). Service jobs dominate employment. I've never worked in an entry low level office job so I couldn't help you there in terms of finding employment. My main profession is in the Information Technology contract business and I get paid much more than the average when I have a contract. However, I have years and years of low paying jobs in Tucson. A $12 an hour office job (or any service job) is highly unlikely in Tucson. Craigslist is full of scams. If the email reply is coming from a free email account like yahoo or gmail, chances are it's a scam. However, you'll never know you might be lucky. You can try Phoenix. It's much bigger than Tucson. Phoenix is the 6th or 5th largest city in the U.S.
I have in fact applied for an Americorp program from Tucson but the jobs were in California and I didn't get any of them. They have quite rigorous background check. Instead I got another job. I believe if you are a college graduate starting last year, you can have a much lower monthly payment plan than previous graduate years ... something about payment of a small percentage of your DISPOSABLE income (your profit after spending for rent, food etc...). You can also defer payment of your college loan if you work less than 30 hours a week (part time). Here's the site for college loan program, https://www.myedaccount.com/ .
As for rent deposit, it's usually the cost of rent and sometime a rent and a half. So if the rent is $700 per month, your deposit will be $700 or $1050. However, there are places that don't even charge for deposit (or give you a one month rent free). Summer will be THE BEST time to rent an apartment in Tucson. That's when landlords get desperate for renters because UofA students have left Tucson empty (literally). So if you move here around May, you'd have a very good chance of finding a cheap place around the UofA. In fact, you can even have a good chance of finding a used vehicle (sold from a student).
If you want to live very close to the UofA, find a place in the north side of the UofA...between Speedway Blvd and Grant Rd. I used to live on Mountain Ave , just north of Speedway . It's close to the UofA and bus route but quiet enough from the student parties and relatively safe. (unlike the west/south of UofA). Here's the Craigslist search for mountain ave . Grocery stores are a bus ride away. Lots of restaurants since it's by the UofA. I usually walk past UofA to the west at University Blvd/4th Ave area for entertainment and food. I love that area especially in the summer. Feels like I own the place because barely anyone is around plus you can get that martian orange/reddish view during summer sunset/sunrise looking west from the UofA.
So, I'd recommend moving north of UofA, asked your boyfriend to put out a college loan, try to find work (good luck) and maybe defer loan payment and go from there. There's also Pima Community College just west of UofA on Speedway (bus ride) , if you want a cheaper education for yourself with another college loan, if you can't find a job.
I'd emphasize that Tucson is really a LOW WAGED town. So, lower your expectation. Hope this helps.
Btw, if Northern Cali weren't expensive, I'd live there. It's my favorite place in America.
From a non-goth/emo perspective, I think you may enjoy Tucson.
I think the employment forecast you're getting here is much more dismal than you may actually find. If you have a bachelor's degree, you can get a job making $9-10 per hour. A good job? Not necessarily, but it'll be stable. As long as your boyfriend is working just 10-20 hours per week, you can afford to live in a cheap apartment. They're everywhere in Tucson. If Tucson has one thing, it's cheap housing, particularly when compared with Humboldt.
Deposits are usually one month's rent. That's actually the maximum allowed by state law. However, it's likely you'll be charged an additional non-refundable "cleaning fee" of $100 or so. This is an Arizona thing and I've never understood it (isn't it the previous tenant's responsibility to clean it?), but almost everyone has it.
I think your biggest concern is how different your surroundings are going to be. First, you're in a large city. The crime, particularly property crime, is going to surprise you. You can't leave anything unlocked outside (even on your porch) and can't leave anything of value visible in your car, particularly in cheap apartment complexes. There is a lot of drugs in Tucson, mainly meth. If you ride public transit, then you'll encounter it. You're also many hours from the ocean and in a very different climate. The dry, blue skies may be a novelty at first, but they'll likely get to you after a while. Summers are hot and then more hot. There is no grass. The tap water leaves calcium deposits everywhere. You will need to use lotion constantly. You cannot leave small pets outside because they will be eaten by other animals (seriously).
But I love Tucson.
The Nor Cal folks I've met living there have generally been pretty nice and seem to fit in well there. Go easy on the "in California, we [did something superior to you]" and you'll do better.
I'm wondering if the people who are saying there are no jobs really know what it is like to have no jobs? Here you find people with really good degrees working at Borders, at least until it went out of business. Now we have people with really good degrees on unemployment and out of work for months. My mother has great experience, a bachelors degree, some graduate work already done, and working on completing a masters in business and she can not get a job above $11-12/hr here. and those are even rare here.
My boyfriend probably won't be working while in school, but he does receive SSDI. It is about $800/month here, not sure what it would be in Tucson. I would be the one working full time. I did notice that housing there looked a lot cheaper just from glancing at craigslist or looking at apartment complex websites. I've found many that say $87.50 deposit or $200 deposit and they look okay. Tucson Arizona Apartments - Home - Fox Point or Green Valley Arizona Apartments - Home - Sandstone Ridge these aren't scams right? I looked them up on google maps and they look like real apartments.
I have learned, lately, not to leave anything outside after we had stuff stolen off our porch, and we live in a safer part of town. This town also is lucky enough to get people who are released from prison sent up here. They literally give them a bus ticket to our town.
I will definitely miss the ocean, forests and grass here. However, I don't get to go to the ocean too often. I'm mostly at work, school, or home. I'm not excited about the heat. I do like the weather in Humboldt. However, it is quite a negative place here. There are a lot of drugs here too :/
Haha. I definitely don't think we do anything better here really. Otherwise I probably wouldn't leave :]
The job market is really bad here. There is just no two ways around it. If you have a healthcare degree, then I would say sure, you can get a job. If you speak spanish, then your chances go up. But a studio art degree? You may have some trouble. We have people here with over 10 years of experience working in an office with a bachelor degree who can't find jobs above minimum wage. It is definitely possible, but compared to a few years ago when I would have said sure you could find a job within 6 weeks no problem, you will be struggling in this economy. Or you could get lucky! maybe think about getting a teacher certification which could open up teaching jobs. Really I don't know if you mentioned previous work experience, but if you had previous office work experience plus a degree I am sure you could find something .. for minimum wage. Or hey, there's always Starbucks!
Or hey - rental car companies and insurance companies hire straight out of college people with degrees. So maybe look into that.
Last edited by Kimballette; 01-17-2012 at 01:55 PM..
I have lived here for 15 years. I went to the UofA Architecture program and am an artist.
My thoughts to maybe help you.
1. The program at the College of Architecture is great. Hard to get into though, so your boyfriend better be ready to bust his hump the first year and make sure he makes an impression. Once he gets in, be prepared to have an exhausted, stressed out boyfriend for 4 more years. It is an amazing program that really gave me a wonderful education, but it IS NOT for the faint of heart. Also, best if he can not work while in this program. Those I knew that worked at the same time really suffered in their studies. It is typical to be in the studio or at class from 8am-midnight.
2. Once he finished the program. Leave. Jobs for Architects here are non-existant. It is a hard field to be in right now and unless your willing to move and do what it takes, it's not a good choice. The university just started a new sustainable program. Do some research on that. From what I have heard it's a blend of Architecture, engineering, Agriculture and technology. I would have done this if it had been around when I went to school.
3. For you as an artist. Their is a wonderful and very active arts culture in tucson. Many working artist. If your social and able to introduce yourself, volunteer and get involved in the different venues, you will have an amazing experience and meet some very talented people very quickly. Look at Dinnerware Artspace, Solar Culture, the Scultpural resource center and Matt Bevel to start.
4. Live downtown! If you look for a place in the summer, there are many more options. Look at areas off university, 4th ave, tools ave, etc. Stay away from an apartment or student housing. Your better off being patient and finding a cute little 1-2 bedroom casuist/house for 500-800 a month.
5. Jobs are rough, like everyone said, 8 bucks is the average. But, cost of living is less here. you'll find a job eventually. And if you actively get involved with the local community the second you get here, then someone will eventually hire you for something.
6. Keep in mind, a visit in the summer is the worst time to visit. Most try like hell to leave town by June. I moved here in August and was shocked by the heat. It's rough. But do-able.
Hope this helps.
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