I would like to move to NY for reasons. Doesn’t have to be the city, thought in or near (or generally metropolitan) preferred, and I would like to move as soon as realistically and feasibly possible (I’m not getting rid of all my shit, hopping on a plane, and arriving in NYC, even if that is as soon as possible).
I’m not really sure how to do this. I know I need to look into apartments or places to stay in general, and also look into getting a job once I’m up there or before I arrive. I am currently in college, so I would also need to look into colleges to transfer into. The thing is, I don’t know where to start looking. I mean, sure I could look up “apartments in NY” and “community colleges in NY” but the internet is AI generated nowadays and listicles and apartments.com doesn’t give the whole story. When I moved into my current city, I asked for advice and suggestions on Reddit and got a lot of help (been staying in the same apartment complex for the last 4 years that someone from there recommended actually), so I figured, fuck it let me do the same here.
I guess my more solid questions would be:
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What apartments should I look into? Any suggestions for it?
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What colleges should I check out that would be covered by FAFSA and offer bachelors in Computer Science or related (tangentially or otherwise) fields?
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I’m aware that NY in general is a more expensive state in cost-of-living but I’ve heard wages there are also higher. Would I be able to exist there off a part-time or full-time retail/food-service job? Also, I do currently have an Associate’s degree, would I be able to get a better paying job through that or is it not enough?
Any other advice would be very much appreciated, and if I come up with more questions I’ll edit them in ig.
If you’re looking to get on your feet and don’t mind roommates, checkout subleases for apartments on Craigslist. This avoids having to commit to a 1 or 2 year lease, especially if you end up finding a job far away and want to move to be closer. I don’t have much experience with this but know others who have done that. My only advice is to avoid things which seem too good to be true. Don’t give anyone a huge deposit on a place or other shady things. There are a lot of laws for what prospective tenants can pay, anytime someone asks for a fee or a charge for something, look up if it’s legal and question if it’s needed. Having roommates also has the added benefit of kicking things off in a new place with at least some social network so you don’t feel lonely and isolated.
I’m not familiar with the financial assistance provided by CUNY or SUNY but think that it is inexpensive if you are a resident of the city or state respectively. Look into the criteria and do the math to see how long you’d have to live and work to meet the resident threshold and if it’d be less expensive in the long run.
NYC is a higher cost of living but you will not need a car, so that’s an expense you don’t have to worry about. There are also a lot of services provided by the city or by volunteer orgs that provide assistance that can help avoid spending a lot for food.
Good luck, hope it works out for you.
Subleases are a good idea! Do people still use craigslist though? Thanks for recommending CUNY and SUNY, I’ll have to check that out as well. Thanks!
Yeah, I’m sure there are places other than Craigslist you could look. I haven’t searched for an apartment in a while, but for a sublet with roommates, you’ll generally want to find a site where the roommates would post, and not go to a broker or anything. I’m not sure of your budget, but quickly searching came up with some good hits like this.
Hey, thanks! I’ll check it out.
Do NOT give ANY money before signing a lease. Those are only scams. There’s no such thing as an application fee or showing fee or anything like that.