College Visit to Univ of Colorado Denver - Homeless Population? (Colorado Springs: unemployment, buy)

[karenpkelly]

Taking my 17 year old out to see Denver in late April. Been hearing about a raging homeless population out there? Any truth to this?

Side bar: Is UC Denver a commuter campus?

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by karenpkelly

Taking my 17 year old...

Did you spend any time researching on this forum before making your FIRST post ever?

And, no, we don't have "raging" homeless population.
Some, who visit the Queen, would argue that we have a raging homosexual population. But, they don't appreciate the Queen the way we do.
/sarcasm [for the clueless]

[cowboyxjon]

Yeah, CU-Denver is basically a commuter campus and it's pretty much right in downtown Denver. There are homeless people on campus. If you want a more traditional college experience, check out CU-Boulder.

[SkyDog77]

Definitely a commuter campus. University of Denver is the "real" college campus experience in the city, but it is private and expensive.

CU Boulder and CSU in Fort Collins are the "real" college experiences as far as public schools.

[scrapper105]

I could see how someone could perceive that there was a lot of homeless people. The touristy area (16th Street) and the general downtown had a fair number of stereotypically looking homeless people about and some teenagers who appeared to be very dirty, singing (badly) for money.

Of course, these days, homeless people look just like you and me. But I was surprised at the dirty teenager types (bless their hearts) who were hanging out.

[Mort_canard]

Well, it's an American city in the post-Great Recession era. Unemployment is high, prospects are grim. What does she want to study? Something practical I hope! Are you looking for a UCD price-point? How competitive is her academic record? All of these things factor into her choice of college much more than any number of domiciliary-challenged individuals in proximity to the college. For Christ's sake, just don't buy into the whole, "as long as you get a degree, that's all that matters," stuff that I heard growing up. It's just not that way anymore.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Definitely a commuter campus. University of Denver is the "real" college campus experience in the city, but it is private and expensive.

CU Boulder and CSU in Fort Collins are the "real" college experiences as far as public schools.

There are far more traditional college experiences in Colorado than just CU-Boulder and CSU-Ft. Collins in Colorado. There are several public universities that have on campus housing for students including:

• Colorado School of Mines in Golden (Denver metro area)
• University of Northern Colorado in Greeley
• UC-Colorado Springs (UCCS)
• CSU-Pueblo
• Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction
• Ft. Lewis in Durango
• Western State in Gunnison
• Adams State in Alamosa

Private universities with campus housing for students besides DU include:

• Regis University in Denver (Catholic)
• Johnson and Wales in Denver
• Colorado College in Colorado Springs
• Colorado Christian University in Lakewood (Denver metro area)

Additionally, while CU-Denver and Metro State University (they share a campus) are largely commuter schools, there are student housing options available.

[Augie Daugie]

The homeless population on the Auraria campus is small and pretty harmless. There are a couple of people that will hang out at the library, but I rarely encounter homeless people otherwise. While it is a commuter campus, there are plenty of options available for student life - and being located at downtown Denver, there is no shortage of fun activities. Davidv gives some great suggestions for other schools above...I'm actually a huge fan of UCCS, which has a very tight, on-campus, student life community.

[Tekkie]

Denver has a lot of homeless and panhandlers (not sure if they are all homeless). I get hit up more here for spare change than I ever did when I was in Detroit. The homeless extend all the way down into the nice parts of town, too. It's not uncommon to see panhandlers standing at Belleview and I-25 or in Cherry Creek. I'm not really sure why this is. Anyway, they are fairly harmless in my observation. You likely be assaulted more by their abnormal appearance and putrid odor than anything else.

[NoDoubt1993]

I go to UC Denver (if your child qualifies, have them look into the program I am in on campus---University Honors and Leadership Program...UHL), and it's a great school. I had my choice of schools to attend (I'm a National Merit scholarship recipient and was my senior class valedictorian), and I chose UCD over Regis, DU, CU Boulder, CSU and Mines (all of which I was accepted to). The UHL program is wonderful, and gives the students in it so many more opportunities (and scholarships!). It is one of the top research universities in the country, and has strong ties to the UC Medical school and health programs at the Anschutz campus. I think it's an especially great school for pre-health studies (I'm pre-vet).

I haven't really noticed homeless people on campus except on the weekends (I do commute from home, so I am rarely on campus on the weekends). And the proximity to downtown is great.