Family friendly colleges

[amebt]

We have decided that dh will go to grad school after he graduates. It will be expensive but we have decided to love on campus to cut down on costs. Does anyone have any experience with family housing at universities? We are very open to moving any where. I have been doing a little research, but I would love some first hand suggestions.

[mammastar]

Well this may be a bit of a stretch for you, but the family housing at the University of Victoria in Victoria BC is excellent! I have had friends who have really enjoyed the townhouses, daycare centre and family activity centre there, although there is a waitlist.

What area of study?

[amebt]

Chemistry

[Throkmorton]

Yep, at the University in my old hometown (in BC) there was family housing on campus, including 3 bedroom apartments. Same with UBC, but much harder to get into.

[love2all]

UNM (new mexico) has a nice student family housing- affordable 1,2,3 bedrooms with a play ground in the center. I think alot of universities have these and they are really conviently located to the school and other things in the cities. I loved feeling part of that community and always having other children around was wonderful. Get on a list somewhere, the wait is usually extensive.......

[pranamama]

Hi Amebt
I lived in family housing at Washington State University and absolutely loved it. The kids could ride tricycles down the sidewalk, the complex was fenced. There was a little pond with Koi and ducks and cat tails. I don't know bout their chemistry dept but I loved my time there.

[kofduke]

I was an undergrad at Duke and lived in Central Campus Housing my sr. year - quite a lot of families lived around us. It's walking distance to the Duke Gardens, which are fabulous for playing, and the Whole Foods Market, and it's a wonderful community!

[amebt]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We love North Carolina, so Duke might be a possibility...

[0cean]

We are at UT and enjoying the family housing atmosphere. It has a great community feeling, kids, sidewalks, open spaces ect. Austin, TX is a great city too. Lots of family friendly vibes around here. I have only been here for 2 months but so far it's been great!

I do hear it is hard on kids to leave, its nothing like the "real world"!

shayna

[liawbh]

I absolutely :love 'd University of Oregon. I was there as an undergrad, but lots of my neighbors were in grad school. They have several options and sites for family housing. I lived at teh Westmoreland site. We had community center, toddler daycare, preschool, several playgrounds, and within walking distance of community gardens and bike path.

Waah, I miss it. Like the pp said, the real world doesn't hold up!

[wendy1221]

We're at Purdue for chemistry (dh is in mass spec--Kentamaa's group) and it's not that hot! LOL! Their married student housing is tiny, expensive (compared to local apts. ~$600/mo for a tiny 2 bd. We pay $600/mo for a 2 bd literally twice the size 4 miles away), and bug infested. We went to Penn State for undergrad and I never saw their family housing, but I heard it's not too bad. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Penn State. After coming here, it made me appreciate Penn State's atmosphere so much more (although I have to say we like Purdue a whole lot as well), and made me see why PSU has so many loyal (fanatic?) alumni fans. Good luck in your search!

[amebt]

Thanks for all the replies. I think we are going to wind up at the University of Kansas. Dh wants to study medicinal chem and they have a good program. If anyone knows anything about Lawerence please tell me!

[sovereignqueen]

Not sure if they have chemestry, but Southern Utah Univeristy is very familyfriendly. By bro goes there and theres tons of couple/family housing. Its a public school, but alot of the students are mormon.

[TiredX2]

Another vote for the UO.

One big thing is the average stipend size. UO is pretty good (esp in their sciences)--- around $10-15K a year PLUS tuition and health care for supported grad students. Much easier to get in some depts than others, and generally easier for PhDs than MS students (esp dependent on major).

They built new ones (not Westmoreland) in 97 & 98 and we loved them. On site preschool (we didn't use, but nice), lots of play structures, right on bus line. And, of course, Eugene is known as Berkeley North, lol

[carolsly]

BYU? I would assume..I don't know about graduate programs though..but I'm sure it is very family friendly : )

[jessica_bystander]

Yep, BYU is VERY family friendly. Most of my friends went there for college and had at least one child during their studies there, and they said that women would bring in babies all the time. I'm going to the one in Idaho.

[DebraBaker]

I think I'm going to one of the most un family friendly places, grrr.

I can't even take a basic Zoology class (reguisit and prerequisit for man other courses for a Biology major.) because it is only offered at 8am. Hello? I have an elementary school student daughter and I *can't* get to school before 9. Furthermore, the school offers no before school care (or after school care for that matter.) It is very challenging to harmonize my school and their school schedules.

In my dream life, I'm going to UBC as a Midwifery student.

db

[natrowmum]

but--Mizzou in Columbia, MO was very family friendly--i and my husband both brought my children to all of our classes when they had no school--other parents did the same. the worst trouble i had was with the teachers talking to my kids in class while i was trying to work. lol. DS still talks about this 1 teacher he really liked who offered to give him a test on Ancient Greek! they had childcare on campus, busline available. and affordable apartment housing within walking distance of the campus--i had to walk farther from student parking. i don't know how good their chem department is, but the school is huge, so if you don't mind a state school with a football team you can see on tv. they had a women's support room (I can't remember the name of it, knew others who used it, i didn't) in the common's building with the fastfood)with couches (nice if you are breastfeeding!) and book resources. it was a big enough school that there were all sorts of support groups based on campus as well. they also had equipment rental--like tents & stuff.

the only thing i know about the chem department is they have a phenomenal nationwide (gov. grant) recognized girl scout program that their grad students do every year called Magic of Chemistry. my DD did it and is still talking about (the science stuff, not just the fun stuff!) it 1 yr later and wears the tie-dyed t-shirt she made there, even though it is ripped on one side. they do 3 different programs that they rotate (a different one every year)-- i was impressed by how much the kids learned--and it would be a fun grad student thing to participate in. :thumb