Hi i'm 17 and me and three of my friends would like to move to California (L.A) from Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). I wanted to know what would be a good affordable area for four young women? We would like to move out there after high school. Also, we are trying to find colleges there. We need to know what are you affordable colleges because our parents dont have much money to send us to big schools. I heard about California State University, Los Angeles and also East Los angeles college. Is there anymore? It would be great if you could tell me what colleges have dorms to stay in and good area's to live in if we share an apartment! PLEASE help, we're really motivated to move out to the west coast and we don't have much information. Thanks..
Los Angeles - 4 Answers
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1
Obviously you don't have much information. Here's some, but probably not what you were expecting: Perhaps they don't teach math where you go to school. Let's do the math, shall we? Coming to Socal out of HS, you'll make minimum wage, which is currently $8 per hour. If you are lucky enough to get 40 hours per week, that's 320 per week, or $1280 gross per month. And that's BEFORE taxes. Take home is probably $910. Now it's a hard economic fact that you should spend around 1/3 of your salary on rent or mortgage. One third of $910 is about $300, which is what you can afford. However, the average rent for a studio/bachelor/single apartment is about $1000, and a 1BR is about $1200. In order to afford that, you need to make at least $3000 per month. The smallest place you would need is a 2BR, since the max is 2 people per BR. For that, you're looking at about $1600 on average. Cal State LA and ELAC are commuter campuses. They don't have dorms. CSLA is a four year college, and ELAC is just a junior college (2 year). And the fees for out of state students are very high. And neither or those areas are really great for 4 young women. Cal State Northridge or Cal State Fullerton might be a better fit. At least they have dorms, although it might be difficult to get into. Those areas are better than the one you mentioned. Go to their web sites and check them out: www.csun.edu and www.fullerton.edu. Good luck.
2
im a cali native so i think i can help a lil bit.. 1. Colleges: the most affordable colleges are the community colleges & CSU's. I go to csulb & i think our tuition is a lil lower than the other CSU's but im not sure. Also since you are an out of state resident you're tuition will be higher than in-state residents. Check the link for CSULB's tuition. http://www.csulb.edu/depts/enrollment/registration/fees_basics.html Also some colleges have cut back their admissions even to those that are qualified. This state is in a budget crisis & are cutting back a lot of funds. I don't know how much financial aid you will be able to get. Starting out at a JC might be better for the time being. 2. Affordable housing?? Umm there are decent priced apartments around the bigger schools...like the csu's & uc's. BUT the question is how will you pay your rent. Will your parents be helping you? If not, good luck with finding a job. Stores are either closing down, firing or not hiring in new employees. Work study at the school of your choice may be the best bet. FYI Freshmens usually have classes M-F so that will affect how many hrs you can work combined with the crappy bus system. In my opinion this isn't the best time to come out here ESPECIALLY fresh out of high school. Any more questions you can email me...more than willing to help
3
Yeah...um.. if you're white, I highly doubt you'll want to live in East LA. If you don't have much money, then it's best you stay in Pennsylvania. Here's why: As of right now, because of the economy, a job opening in Los Angeles is almost non existent. With the closings of Shoe Pavilion, Linens-N-Things, Mervyns, and Circuit City, it's going to be EVEN MORE difficult. Just recently the unemployment rate went from 9.4% to 10.1%!! You will also need about $10,000 to start off. Decent prices start at $1000 mo. for either an extremely small studio or a 1bd/1ba apartment if you're lucky. There is no such thing as $550 mo. here. A minimum waged job alone will barely pay the rent. Remember, you need to eat, you need water, gas, electric, personal hygiene, etc. Bottom Line: Look elsewhere. In 3 months, you'll be back in Pennsylvania with no improvement whatsoever.
4
Hmmm may be difficult with you guys being really young. It's the reality of it, but I'm not going to knock your guys' dream of living in Los Angeles. I would say that if you were to go to East LA community college which is cheaper than most the other JCs, you should live in alhambra or Monterey Park. But with four of you sharing an apt. I would say you could get a 1 or 2 bedroom apt around Alhambra or South Pasadena for about 2000 a month so it'll be like 500 dollars each of you. Make sure you try to get a job. Avoid the westside because it is EXTREMELY expensive. You should make sure you have the money. The area is great to live in, just don't get too crazy into the nightlife. Good luck. See you here!
