Apts. in Ithaca for older student? (Buffalo, Lansing: apartment complexes, how much, dorm)
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Older (40+) woman student, married, has opportunity to transfer to Cornell on scholarship. Staying in a dorm is out of the question.
Where would someone like that look for a nice, safe apt. in Ithaca? Someplace near public transportation or easy way to get to Cornell? A place that would be convenient to spouse visiting on weekends, from NYC. Close to shopping, too.
Also, is it possible to live in Ithaca and attend Cornell without a car?
..Where would someone like that look for a nice, safe apt. in Ithaca? Someplace near public transportation or easy way to get to Cornell? A place that would be convenient to spouse visiting on weekends, from NYC. Close to shopping, too.Also, is it possible to live in Ithaca and attend Cornell without a car? Thanks.
I do not live in Ithaca, but I've spent enough time there in the past few years to say that I think it is possible to live in Ithaca without a car. There is a city bus system, and there's another, called TCAT, that has routes in the areas surrounding Ithaca.
I can't really speak to the "safety" issue, because, coming from Chicago, all of Ithaca looks "nice and safe" to me. Is there a housing office at Cornell that could answer your questions? Have you tried craigslist? There are dozens of apts available there that indicate their convenience to Cornell.
I'd recommend either looking downtown or up near the mall, bordering Lansing. There's advantages and disadvantages to both areas.
On the border with Lansing are University Park, Gaslight Village, Warrenwood, (and others but those are the ones that I pass on the bus every morning). The nice thing about this area is that you can pretty much handle the apartment hunting sight-unseen, which I had to do and was VERY happy with what I ended up with. These apartments are largely rented by older grad students, post-doctoral students, and young professionals. Most people are late-20's to late-30's in age, but not so much so that I think an older student would stick out. Lots of young families, VERY quiet. The buses are well-used by the people in the area, but the real downside is that it's not a particularly pedestrian-friendly area, at least compared with downtown. Getting to and from classes without a car, no problem at all. But getting groceries, going to the farmer's market, and even getting downtown can be a hassle.
Downtown is pretty much a pedestrian's paradise. I have friends who recently moved to town, have a car, and live downtown, and I don't think they've used the car to get somewhere in town since they arrived. Walking around is still miserable in the winter, but if you value a carfree lifestyle I think it would be doable here (there's also a car-share program with cars throughout town, if you think you'll occasionally need transportation.) There are areas of downtown that people here consider to be undesirable, but if you're coming from NYC the "bad" neighborhoods will be a total joke. The downside to living downtown is that there aren't really any apartment complexes or landlords that own a lot of places, so it's kind of a hassle to get in touch with a bunch of people. The quality of the apartments are really hit-and-miss. I would definitely want to visit them all in person to see the neighborhood and the positives and negatives of each place. There are a few students that live downtown, but almost all of the CU and IC students live on the respective hills, so it'd definitely not an undergrad life there. It is a much more diverse area in terms of age and socioeconomic status (I jokingly call my apartment area the "postdoc ghetto", it's kind of funny how much everyone here is at exactly the same point in their life--not a lot of money but lots of education, so in the morning everyone's on the bus, reading journal articles in their field.)
When I was looking for a place (last winter) I found the downtown apartments to be slightly more expensive on average, when taking into account that they weren't paying for heat.
Hope that helps. Feel free to send me a message for more specifics. Best of luck!
Considering your situation, you probably want to have a car. Not really for getting to and from Cornell, but for getting around Ithaca. Most Cornell students do not have cars, parking on campus is actually very limited. But therefore, your typical 18-22 year-old Cornell students live their lives on campus, and just off campus.
For convenience, you can't beat the area known as "College Town," which is just off the campus. But this will be a younger area. Probably not what you are looking for.
You can do down Buffalo Street, more towards downtown. You would probably be more comfortable in that area. That would bring you closer to the shopping of Ithaca Commons. For the most part though, Ithaca shopping is suburban style strip-malls. (For which you really need a car to access).
If you haven't done it yet, Ithaca is really a wonderful town, so I suggest you and your husband visit for a few days. Drive around, get to know the different parts of the town. Just by walking around, you might find your comfort zone.
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