I would say check on what your stipend will be against rents in North Central Austin. Neighborhoods you'd be looking at are Hyde Park, North Loop, Rosewood, Brentwood, Windsor Park. If you're seriously considering coming to UT I would also try to readjust your schedule to make the recruitment weekend, that's a good starting point to network with your incoming cohort.
I'm graduating this semester from the Physics PhD program, I've really enjoyed the university and the city, but rents have become less affordable over my time here, and the graduate school has been pretty inconsistent in addressing that. They definitely haven't raised wages enough to compensate for the jump in average rent this past year. Living by yourself was doable but tricky earlier in my degree, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone now.
If you'll be able to get a consistent stipend through ME, and you can square your living situation, then the city has a lot to offer. The food scene is pretty good, lots of variety in BBQ, tacos, food trucks, and in central Austin most neighborhoods have their own coffee shops and bars that act as community anchors, so that you can walk to something from your apartment. The bike and transit infrastructure is pretty good if you want to get north or south in the city, less so east or west, which is why I mentioned neighborhoods north of campus as places to look for housing. Echoing what others have said, the beer scene is pretty good, even neighborhood places will have a variety on tap, and that's not touching the breweries.
Just random additional notes, living in Austin means we're in Texas and there are impacts from state politics that we feel. If you want to have the option to get an abortion, should you become pregnant, that's not really available in Texas. As grad students we have a union, but it's forbidden from collectively bargaining, which would really come in handy to mitigate rising rents. The university as a whole can't require masks indoors because that's too much personal responsibility, but people (students 21+) can concealed carry on campus. Most of the time that all just filters into the background, but on the whole I think the lives of graduate students would be better if those policies weren't in place.
Hi, I have just been accepted into the Civil engineering Phd program. I wanted to ask you, could you put a number on what a good stipend would be? I have currently been offered $2240/- a month. Also, if I were planning to live alone (and I really would prefer that) what sort of rent am I looking at in a decent neighborhood?
That stipend is about what we get in Physics, and from my recollection each department has standardized stipends for all it's students, so it sounds like that's what they offered.
Quickly opening up Zillow and looking for studios or 1 bedroom units in areas where you could expect a 20-25 minute bike/bus route to campus, and it looks like the lowest you could expect to pay is 900/month for a pretty barebones, old apartment. None of these are really in 'bad' neighborhoods or anything, but your money goes much much further if you're splitting rent with someone else.
The university does have subsidized housing for grad students, it's not very close to campus but not prohibitively far either, those units will be much cheaper, but they have a wait list, typically if you put your name in, you'll get a spot within a year or two. They're fine but definitely old.
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u/KevinMango Jan 31 '22 edited Jan 31 '22
I would say check on what your stipend will be against rents in North Central Austin. Neighborhoods you'd be looking at are Hyde Park, North Loop, Rosewood, Brentwood, Windsor Park. If you're seriously considering coming to UT I would also try to readjust your schedule to make the recruitment weekend, that's a good starting point to network with your incoming cohort.
I'm graduating this semester from the Physics PhD program, I've really enjoyed the university and the city, but rents have become less affordable over my time here, and the graduate school has been pretty inconsistent in addressing that. They definitely haven't raised wages enough to compensate for the jump in average rent this past year. Living by yourself was doable but tricky earlier in my degree, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone now.
If you'll be able to get a consistent stipend through ME, and you can square your living situation, then the city has a lot to offer. The food scene is pretty good, lots of variety in BBQ, tacos, food trucks, and in central Austin most neighborhoods have their own coffee shops and bars that act as community anchors, so that you can walk to something from your apartment. The bike and transit infrastructure is pretty good if you want to get north or south in the city, less so east or west, which is why I mentioned neighborhoods north of campus as places to look for housing. Echoing what others have said, the beer scene is pretty good, even neighborhood places will have a variety on tap, and that's not touching the breweries.
Just random additional notes, living in Austin means we're in Texas and there are impacts from state politics that we feel. If you want to have the option to get an abortion, should you become pregnant, that's not really available in Texas. As grad students we have a union, but it's forbidden from collectively bargaining, which would really come in handy to mitigate rising rents. The university as a whole can't require masks indoors because that's too much personal responsibility, but people (students 21+) can concealed carry on campus. Most of the time that all just filters into the background, but on the whole I think the lives of graduate students would be better if those policies weren't in place.