The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Things you might want to know, in quick few words : (details follow)
On campus, is a safe option costing around $430 ~ $650 + food (~ $200) per month per head. Its near to the departments.
Off campus places tend to vary a lot. Typical figures would be $300 - $450 + utilities ($60 ~ $100) + food (max $150) per month per head. Most of the leases are for one year. Off-campus places are not quite far, a cycle helps.
Looking for an off-campus apartment? Best way is to get here and then search.
The relevant web-links and further details are given below.
Also keep in mind that the rents and utilities budget goes up every year.
Like most other universities, housing in Columbus, has two options - on-campus and off-campus. We will look at the “on-campus” first.
The OSU has two dorm-type places called Jones Graduate Tower and Neil Dorms for meeting the housing needs of most graduate students. Take a look at the university's website for graduate housing here. Inevitably there's a rush in the Fall (mid-September). Many students come over in Summer (mid-June) itself, so the rush begins a quarter ahead (Note : OSU follows quarter system rather than semester). To apply for this place,
check the on-campus residency option in the main application form, so that the housing office sends you the relevant forms on time. At least this was the procedure in 2003.
You need to send a caution deposit of $250 + a non-refundable fee of $30 (2003 figures), when you send the signed forms for graduate housing. I did not have time to send these forms by post, so I had scanned and e-mailed them along with the credit card details (number, expiry date, cvv number). Well, that seems risky, but at times its worth a risk rather than the postal hassles.
Now, if you had opted for a place in the Jones Tower, and once you are here, you'll need to go to the Jones front desk, fill up some documents, grab the key to the room of your choice (from the available ones) and you are in. Jones front desk is open 24/7.
The rent for Jones from Fall 2007, is (I think) going to be $430 for the usual rooms and $490 for the bigger ones.
The rent for Neil dorms from Fall 2007, is (I think) going to be $670 for the efficiencies.
Advantages of putting up in Jones.
The biggest advantage – the tower being Buck-ID swiped, is very very safe. Girls might want to take a special note of this.
Its quite near to Stat, Math as well as Econ departments (~7mins walk).
The room is well furnished. So the potential difficulties of buying furnitures in the first year is taken care off. (Note: a micro-fridge, which you'll find in every room, is a combination of a microwave fixed above a small refrigerator)
Broadband Internet connection for free (well, implicitly included in the rent). So buy a comp soon enough to maximize this.
Electricity, gas, air-conditioning, water (including hot water), plug-n-play land-line phone connection all included in the rent.
Disadvantages of getting stuck in Jones.
The biggest source of inconvenience is that the rooms do not have a kitchen. There are only two common kitchens for all the (~500, 13 floors and around 38 rooms on each floor) people that too located on the ground floor. Consequently, people loose the enthusiasm to cook; most of the days they go out to eat and end up spending much more than typically expected.
The rent, $430 a month, as compared to places like NY or CA, is in absolute sense, quite low, but is not worth the facilities when you compare it locally. One can optimize, including the food expenditure, by moving out. Especially, the room, in size, is smaller than the old ISI Boys' Hostel VIP rooms. Ah, but you get to stay alone.
As days pass by, the pain of being stuck in Jones, increases exponentially. After all, everyone wishes to be able to save, isn't it?
If you are not an introvert, you will feel choked. May be I am too harsh, but thats my personal feeling. I do have seen people socializing quite enough, even in Jones, an individual call, I would say.
Well, people differ in their views. Having mentioned some of the pros-n-cons, if you decide to pick Jones, then some tips which I learned from my experience :-
Don't take rooms which are at the end of a corridor. They are bloody chill in the winter, the central heating system does no good. So prefer rooms that are in the middle of a corridor, so that there are at least couple of rooms on either side.
The higher you go the better is the view out of the window (there are 13 residential floors). That depends on how much you stare out, I tend to do quite a lot :-). Again, in my perspective, rooms facing south, will give a good view of the downtown. Also plenty of much-wanted fresh air in the summer.
For the first year of stay, in case you come in summer, the lease for the summer qtr is for 4 months, after which its for one full year. So my suggestion would be to come over in summer, stay in Jones for the summer quater, look out for an off-campus place and roomies during this time, and then push off in the fall.
Advantages of staying in the Neil Avenue dorm:
Disadvantages of staying in the Neil Avenue dorm:
The University Village, Buckeye Real Estate, Kohr Royer Griffith and Pella are the major Realtors around the campus. The Lantern is the OSU students' daily which gives quite a few housing options available around the campus.
The Indian Students' Association (ISA) at the OSU provides a temporary accommodation for the freshers and also helps find a roomie suited to your choice. The rest is up to you to go around and hunt an apartment. What you need to do is register yourself at the ezboard, and post a thread on their Bulletin board. Or you could write to them in person! They also help pick-up and stuffs. Its worth while to go over their site.
A word of CAUTION : DO NOT TAKE ANY HOUSE TO THE EAST OF THE NORTH HIGH STREET. N.High street is an important city road for the university with the university lying entirely to the west of it. The eastern side is quite a troublesome area. Not that troubles are everyday business, but why take a risk for the most unfortunate day? Believe me, I have never seen such a hair-line difference between good and evil. I might sound a bit overdrawn, but take no chances, when your health/life is in question, right? The best way will be to get in touch with the people here, put up with them for some time, and find your own way.
As for the off-campus housing expenses; an efficiency/studio generally costs between, $500-$600 including various utilities, the rates are low if the kitchen is shared. Two bedroom apartments start around $550 and three bedrooms around $650 (+ utilities). All these rates are per month and for the entire apartment. Apartments very close to the campus, cost, on an average $100 more than the specified figures. And well-wishers say, apartments with four or more bedrooms is a chaos. So beware.
A good place to suggest would be the University Village, which a bit far from the departments but has good bus facilities to commute. As of Fall 2007, the two bedroom apartments here cost (combined, not per head) $595 (base rent) + $82 (Utilities) + ~$60 (electricity) + Cable + Internet + Phone. Takes around 10 mins on bus to the campus. A big benefit is that it has the most needed shops (relatively cheap) within hands' reach [ Groceries : Kroger, IP (some desi stuffs); Junk food : McDonald, Berger King, Subway (BETTER than the other two); Good (little expensive) eating joints : Applebees (american), AlVaquero (mexican); General merchandise : Big Lots, Kohls (garments mostly); a licker shop; a barber shop; a bowling place; etc].
The other places opted by many desi-junta are W 8th, W 9th, W 10th streets, 10-15 mins walk form the relevant departments. As again, a cycle helps.
There is also another place, Holiday House Apartments, on Neil avenue which provide some efficiencies and multi bedroom apartments. As of 2007 summer, their efficiencies cost $365 + Electricity (~$30) + Internet (~$35) + Phone + Cable. These rooms are much bigger than that of Jones much like that of the Neil dorms with attached kitchen and bathroom. I think they are the cheapest efficiencies around campus, not too bad though. The benefit is that they provide a month to month lease facility after the first year and is sufficiently furnished (a nice queen size bed, a tiny dining table, a tiny study table, couple of chairs, two side tables, two closets). This place is around 12 mins of walk from the Stat dept.