Where do students who go to school in NY live?

TrustingGod

Hey future lawyers,

I will be applying to a few schools in New York this cycle. I was wondering where do these students live. Housing in the city is unreasonable, and the commute from other burrows can be quite far. Do students just take out loans for housing? Plus it seems like most NY schools don't provide housing. What's going on NY law students?

BinghamtonDave

I don’t normally comment on subjects that divaite far from the lsat, but you make a great point. I have lived in ny state for my entire life: 29 years. I have spent more than half of my life upstate, but I was born in Manhattan and have close family still living there: brothers, father’s house, cousins, aunts/uncles etc. My family lives in Coney Island, which is the last stop for several trains: this making my father’s house or my uncle’s houseboat an enormous daily trek to and from the law schools in Manhattan I would consider attending. The other option would be an apartment closer to or in Manhattan. As anyone familiar with the real estate market in nyc can confirm: this is an extremely expensive task: from Williamsburg to LES, almost everything is shockingly expensive.
So after some deliberation, my wife and I have decided to avoid nyc in my application process.
The problem you allude to is real in my experience. Trying to look at the issue objectively, I think the commute and price of an apartment can be mitigated by getting a place in North Bergen or another place like it but again this has trade offs.

David
This is one person’s opinion: the problems you outline have been enough to keep me away from nyc law schools. I’m interested in what students actually do down there. What are their living situations like?

Leah M B

I don't know about Columbia, but I do know that NYU has student housing. I feel like I've read not great things about it, but it's an option and significantly cheaper than renting on your own in Manhattan. I really don't know NYC at all, so not sure how commuting would be. With all the train drama though, I imagine it'd be dicey.

Louislepauvre

Brooklyn law school has beautiful apartments in Brooklyn Heights. St John’s housing is atrocious. Not sure about Fordham. My buddy went to Columbia and I used to hang in the dorms and they’re nice.

TrustingGod

Thanks for the insight everyone!

beezmoof

Yeah... My sister's BFFs went to Columbia and NYU. The girl who went to NYU took out exorbitant loans to cover her living costs, so much so that she regrets having gone to NYU. I'm a native NYer like @BinghamtonDave and am also looking to leave NY for law school to avoid the living hassle.

beezmoof

Again just a couple of people's experiences

TrustingGod

@beezmoof thank you!

TrinkSchoko

When I visited Columbia the 2L student leading the trip talked about how Columbia offered great housing really close to the law school (5-10 min walk) with a reasonable price. How reasonable I don’t know.

TrustingGod

Thanks everyone !