Yet more minutiae to subject you all to. Should we live in student housing? Or take the house across the street from where we live now? I would love to stay in this house. We have a great yard (front and back), tons of parking, big rooms with storage, and a laundry room downstairs with a washer/dryer included. The rent is reasonable, but it's only two bedrooms. I sort of hate the idea of doing 100% of my studying on campus, and there is really no good (quiet/baby free) space in our house. We're starting to fill up the space we do have, and I am not a fan of getting rid of stuff and trying to make this place work.
So here are the two options:
House across the street: It has 2 bedrooms, a huge home office, a living room and family room, giant laundry room with built in storage shelving, remodeled kitchen (with a dishwasher, which we don't have here) and has the same cute-vintage feel of our current place. We won't have to rent a moving truck, we can just walk it all across the street. A couple dollies/hand trucks should be all we need.
The downside is we'll be paying 200 more a month than we are now, and the yard isn't as awesome, although it doesn't suck.
Student housing: 3 bedrooms, dining room, space for a washer and dryer in the unit, shuttle to and from the law school every 15 minutes, playground. All utilities included (including cable/internet), so we would save about 200 a month. The apartments are in walking distance to Brian's work.
The downsides are many. Living in an apartment complex sucks. The bedrooms are tiny. We'll be awfully close, so the fact I'll have a door to close to the noise may not help that much. NO storage/shelving/closet space. Parking also sucks. Having guests will be a huge pain. The kitchen has ZERO counter space.
So I know that all makes it sound like I know what to do, since there are so many more cons for the apartments, but the 200 dollar savings is a HUGE pro to me. 200 a month isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but who knows what the future may bring?
Did any of you wonderful readers living in student family housing in law school?
How much did you study? At home? On campus?
Is it weird that having a coat closet and linen closet matters so much to me?
When I was in law school I didn't have a family, but I lived in an apartment with another student. I studied at home, but lots of people studied in the law library. I don't think we even had graduate apartments.
ReplyDeleteI'd stay where you are, unless you think the $200 will break you. You don't want to live with other law students. It will just stress you out. TRUST ME.
(Hi! I just found your blog recently and thought I'd throw my two cents in on this one.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above - I live about 15 minutes from campus and it's perfect. I can escape the chaos of the school, which helps me feel a little like law school isn't in control of my life (even if it is). I pay a couple hundred dollars more per month to live in my nice big apartment away from the school, and it's 100% worth it.
You'll always have the option of studying in the law library if you want to be closer to the school, but it's nice if you can get away a bit. We don't have grad housing, but all of the people I know who lived close to the school moved out of the neighborhood after their first year.
Good luck with the move, if you decide to do it, and with your first year! I promise it isn't as bad as it may sound. :)