Looking for cheap rent, lots of space? Move south of Wilshire

During spring quarter, the biggest headache for many students is
finding a home for the next year.

Some will opt to commute from home through traffic, while others
will luck out and get to stay in the dorms another year as a
resident or as staff for the Office of Residential Life. 

But most will be poring over classified ads and touring
apartment complexes on the weekends.

In short, during the month of April, a number of students will
be looking for an apartment in Westwood.

When hunting for living quarters, most students are concerned
about an apartment’s convenience and cost. After all, the
typical college student is busy and might only be working a
part-time job.

Unfortunately, the relationship between convenience and cost in
housing is direct. More convenience means more cost.

In Westwood, the choices boil down to convenient, smaller and
more expensive apartments in the North Village area or those
farther away, south of Wilshire Boulevard, which tend to be bigger
and cheaper. 

Despite the cost difference, most Bruins living off-campus
reside close to UCLA on the streets branching off Gayley Avenue and
by fraternity row. They have to take a brisk 10- to 15-minute
walk to class on campus.

Students who prefer areas south of Wilshire Boulevard often have
no choice but to wait for a 20-minute bus ride or drive to school
themselves.

Chintan Turakhia, a graduate student at the School of
Engineering, lives on Kelton Avenue because he wants to stay close
to campus.

“I wasn’t willing to drive or take a bus every day
to school,” he said.

Of course, prices vary depending on location.

The apartments closer to UCLA can range from $1,100 to $3,000,
depending on their sizes, said Jay Handal, president of the West
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. 

“I would say that a two-bedroom apartment would go for
about $2,000 to $2,300, a single-bedroom apartment would go for
$1,200 to $1,300, and that a three-bedroom apartment would go for
$2,500 to $3,000,” Handal added. 

But students residing in complexes south of Wilshire Boulevard
say half an hour more sleep per day is really not worth the higher
rents.

Specifically, in the area south of Wilshire, students can rent
their own rooms and then some in an apartment that costs around
$2,000.

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment south of Wilshire
Boulevard would only cost around $1,500 to $1,600, said Handal.

Ed Oyama, a fifth-year student studying mathematics and
computations, enjoys living south of Wilshire because he lives in a
spacious apartment for which the rent is only $1,995 a month, he
said. 

“After I found out that this place was considerably
cheaper and it was easy to get to campus (with the campus shuttle),
I had no objections to living far from campus,” Oyama
added.

An additional reason for living south of Wilshire Boulevard is
the neighborhood. The area allows students to get away from the
hustle and bustle of college life.

“Since families live here also, the area is much cleaner
and quieter,” said Jessie Lu said, a second-year psychology
student.

Before apartment-hunting aimlessly, students should take into
consideration their lifestyles and schedules, along with their
budgets.

Busy Bruins with extracurricular activities and jobs on campus
should look into living closer to campus, and even more so if they
have a tendency to rush or be late.

On the other hand, students who are not on campus as much should
consider getting the most apartment space for their money. After
all, they might be in their apartments most of the time.

Those willing and eligible to purchase a permit for the school
year and to drive back and forth to campus will also enjoy the
availability of parking on the streets south of Wilshire
Boulveard.

In addition, students who opt for a more quiet and slower pace
of college life will enjoy the calmer neighborhood. 

Ultimately, the best way for apartment hunters to pick the
locale of their new home is to take a tour of their prospective
living situations to get a feel of how much space they are paying
for and how far the apartment is to campus and stores offering
college necessities.

E-mail Chen at echen@media.ucla.edu. Financially Speaking
runs every other week.