Living in New Jersey

[thewanderer01]

Sort of off-topic, but I've seen a lot of Rutgers-N people looking at private renting, does the school not offer residences at all? Are they poor quality? Or is it generally just wanting to be in a better location?

I also heard lots of good things about the graduate housing is in and of itself nice, but its still living in Newark.

On another living in Jersey front, when is a good time to start looking for apartments? WA is a 20 day notice state, so you can look whenever you want, but you can't really be sure of what places are available until the 10th or 11th of the month before you want to move. I'd really appreciate any insight.

[«ě»]

I just feel slightly older than the average student.  I have my own apartment now, my own adult furniture, and just can't imagine going back to a suite with a kitchenette.  It is more important for me to be close to the city than campus.  It is definitley going to cost me to live in Hoboken or Jersey City but law school will be hard enough as is, I feel like I need some place nice to come home to.  I might regret spending the money later on, not too much I hope.

I understand, and I can certainly relate to that. Been living alone for a good 10 years now, I can't really imagine starting to share bathroom and kitchen with some totally random people myself either. I just got curious, since I've seen a surprisingly large portion of Rutgers-N students looking at these options. I guess part of it would be that they'd rather live in JC or Hoboken than Newark too.

[sarahlina]

Well, I've accepted the fact that I'm going to need a roommate in Hoboken and will probably wind up having to give up a lot of my furniture.  I'm starting to wonder if reduced tuition and a shorter commute is worth giving up my beautiful Brooklyn apt.  This is breaking my heart.  On that note, I'm seeing an apt. in Hoboken this weekend - does $950 a month to share a 2 bed/2 bath place sound like a good deal for the area?  I'm still in sticker shock - I thought I would save money by living in Jersey.

[«ě»]

I know the Manhattan-Hoboken commute and the Brooklyn-Manhattan are very good, but it the commute from Brooklyn to Newark also so good that it's a realistic alternative to live in Brooklyn while attending Rutgers/SetonHall/whatever?

[sarahlina]

If I commuted from where I live:
1. Walk about 7-10 minutes to the A train
2. Take A train to WTC (about 15 minutes)
3. Transfer to the Path
4. Take the Path to Newark Penn Station (25 minutes?)
5. a. Walk through Newark
   b. Take the Light Rail
   c. After 3 PM take campus shuttle
6. Arrive at Campus

It will probably take a little over an hour.  It took almost an hour from downtown Manhattan - without the Brooklyn factor. And it is a commute
where I would be changing trains 3 times so it isn't like I can just
sit and read.  And I'm predicting the commute will get really annoying
when I want to stay late and study? 

[«ě»]

Yeah, my current commute by car is about 45min and I think that's enough time wasted traveling. On a train you'd have the option of reading of course, but still. Takes a good chunk out of the day.

[joewillie]

If I commuted from where I live:
1. Walk about 7-10 minutes to the A train
2. Take A train to WTC (about 15 minutes)
3. Transfer to the Path
4. Take the Path to Newark Penn Station (25 minutes?)
5. a. Walk through Newark
   b. Take the Light Rail
   c. After 3 PM take campus shuttle
6. Arrive at Campus

Another optionm, instead of taking the PATH to Newark, would be to take the PATH to Hoboken and switch to a NJTransit Train that gets out at Broad Street-Newark, which is about 5 blocks from Rutgers campus.  The NJTrain takes 15 minutes and is nice, spacious etc. 

I live in Hoboken and was considering doing the opposite commute if I attended BLS.  The commute was a serious downside to BLS.

[sarahlina]

Thank you!  I didn't even know about that option - I just looked up NJ transit and they even have a reduced student fare option.  There is so much I have to learn about this state.

[calcio103]

I wanna say that the njtransit fare from Newark Penn to Rutgers is 60 cents...