Is this the Right Decision for Me?
Moving to college can be a stressful experience. No matter if you’re leaving your hometown or making a short commute, it may be difficult to encapsulate your surroundings as a first-year student. For some undergraduates at Arizona State University, these emotions might be amplified.
According to US News and World Report Rankings, ASU has an undergraduate enrollment of 42,484, which is the fourth-highest rate of any public university in the United States (PrepScholar). As of 2018, 71 percent of the school’s 72,709 students attended the Tempe campus, where student events such as athletics, Greek housing and clubs take place. But the other 29 percent, including 11,584 from the Downtown Phoenix campus, don’t have these opportunities readily available (Arizona State University).
Currently, ASU’s second-largest campus is home to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, College of Health Solutions and more. Several of these students get the opportunity to live on campus at Taylor Place during their first year and relish the opportunity of a small-school environment. In contrast, plenty of others are interested in what Tempe has to offer.
For reference on making my decision of moving to Tempe next year or not, I spoke with Matt Boerner, Matt Chupek and Rob Werner, three students who each began as journalists and have since established their interests with housing.
Here’s what they had to say about their impressions of moving to Downtown Phoenix:
Moving to Tempe is a prospect that I’ve considered throughout the semester. Much of my time (see below) during the week is spent in Tempe for work with ASU athletics. Beyond that side of it, I wanted to evaluate what other benefits exist as a student in Tempe.
The stories from these three were interesting prospects to listen to. But at the end of the day, it wouldn’t make sense to consider a move if the living expenses didn’t line up. To compare the rates on each campus, I targeted four apartment complexes on each that I would consider living in and did a price-by-price analysis.
For each location, I found that pricing was quite similar within each city. However, when you look at the differences for each, Tempe’s fares were much cheaper.
Given that Phoenix is Arizona’s capital and is home to some large-scale facilities, it makes sense that these ranges exist.
So what does this all mean?
As previously mentioned, plenty of my work as a student takes place on the Tempe campus. I currently live in Downtown Phoenix, but as this first semester of my junior year progressed, I felt that I was at a disadvantage in terms of time management and travel. But I didn’t want to conclude this assessment without going through the proper research.
During the week of Nov. 23, I broke down each activity I did on a daily basis, its time accommodations and where the events took place. I split these assessments into two categories — waking hours and working hours.
At first, I was shocked at the first result. Because so much of my in-person work was completed in Tempe, I believed that a majority of my waking hours would be spent there, too. Granted, plenty of the things I did in Phoenix could’ve been accomplished on the Tempe campus. In order to provide that distinction, I believed it to be important to decipher the working hours since those are the most significant tasks in the day.
After processing scheduling, time considerations, housing and the on-campus life, I was convinced that moving to Tempe would ultimately be the correct decision.
These interviews and evaluations ultimately assisted my decision to move to Tempe for my senior year next fall. Not only will I be obligated to my internship, I considered my continued lack of transportation (I don’t have a car) as well as the money I could save ($200 to $300 a month), which could lighten my expenses next year.
While this decision is best for me, scenarios are different for each student. I would recommend maximizing the student-life at the Downtown Campus the first year while continuing to make connections outside of it. From there, it’s best to go where you can maximize your opportunities.
Here’s what Matt Boerner, Matt Chupek and Rob had to say on their end:
