<p>binx,
I wasn’t thrilled when D had a room share with a male either. It turned out OK since neither spent much time in the apt and they had very little in common. Real problem was that he ate her food, drank her wine and left the bathroom and kitchen a mess. </p>
<p>Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Ugh, what repugnant pricks. I don’t know what it is about administrators at universities in New York, but they seem incredibly capable of stretching the limits of incompetence. At least students displaced like this at Columbia are typically accomodated in (for some reason very nice) hotels.</p>
<p>You might try inquiring with the Manhattan School of Music. It has a very nice new dorm tower in Morningside Heights with lots of extra space that it has traditionally rented out to Barnard for the use of its unhoused students, who shouldn’t be there to use it this year after Barnard opened a smart new dorm. The accomodations are reputed to be excellent and your son would be around other music students.</p>
<p>Try Brooklyn Heights-Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, Park Slope.<br>
Many many musicians live in the Heights and Park Slope.</p>
<p>Call International House … just a short ride away on the subway.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/[/url]”>http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/</a></p>
<p>Also know another one</p>
<p>Also this is a great site.
Morningside Heights is due north and such an easy ride to Juilliard.
Many Columbia students take courses at Juilliard.</p>
<p>I cannot think of the name of the other student hotel nearby, south of Interntaional House … which I adore!</p>
<p>As soon as I can I’ll call a friend and get its name as well.</p>
<p>But start with these.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.morningside-heights.net/apts.htm[/url]”>http://www.morningside-heights.net/apts.htm</a></p>
<p>So sorry, here’s the link…</p>
<p>Riverside Residence - 312 W.109th St. 212.678.4820</p>
<p>See what they have as well. Great area, great prices and they focus on students.</p>
<p>The Teachers College at Columbia rents rooms, do not know the details.
The Teachers College is not Columbia College.</p>
<p>Whittier Hall Guest Rooms at Teachers College - Amsterdam Ave. at 120th St. 678.3235</p>
<p>Also think the East Campus Guest Rooms at Columbia rents rooms.</p>
<p>Beware … there are lots of colleges at Columbia. Do not get discouraged of one says no. Call another.</p>
<p>International House, however, would clearly be my first choice with Riverside Residences the second.</p>
<p>And the last one, my daughter advises me the Union Theological Seminary has nice rooms to let:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uts.columbia.edu/[/url]”>http://www.uts.columbia.edu/</a></p>
<p>Some one else recommended this and thought your son might know about it for a temporary spot:</p>
<p><a href=“jazzonthepark.com”>jazzonthepark.com;
<p>Apparently, one of them has just recently opened up.</p>
<p>When I was a college student I spent a summer working in NYC. I lived at the 92 Street YMCA. It is not anything like your typical Y. </p>
<p>At that time, there was a section of the building reserved for college students. It was an extremely nice and safe facility. If I remember correctly it is on Lexington Avenue- the subway was very convenient. It was a very good experience.</p>
<p>Part Update, part vent:</p>
<p>First, thanks everyone for all your replies and suggestions. We followed up on a lot of them, but hit wall after roadblock after bump. Rooms were too expensive or couldn’t get anyone to respond to emails or answer phones or rooms were short term only or already filled or …</p>
<p>We found several potential roommates who seemed really nice, but no one had an apartment already, and no one else was in as much of a rush as we were. Eventually a transfer student to Juilliard contacted S - they knew each other slightly from a previous event. S turned him down first - they don’t seem to be good matches - other kid is more of a partier, I think. But this kid found a one-room apt near Juilliard he wanted to share and S finally agreed, even though it was too expensive. We rationalized that at least he would have something, and it was across the street, within walking distance. At the last minute, other kid changed his mind. Then other kid found a less expensive one-room, further away, but S felt desperate and agreed. We ended up doing most of the work – S found a friend to view the apt. We made multiple calls to the agent to clarify things. We balked at the request for copies of all our personal info including bank statements, tax returns, etc, but were reassured by native New Yorkers that this is normal procedure. We have personally paid the $500 earnest money. Have signed our half of the lease. Roommate is supposed to be finishing it up today. Roommates mom is balking at the automatic withdrawal, which may mean we all have to pay higher rent.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, yesterday Juilliard sends S an email saying a room has opened up. He has to respond by 9 a.m. today to take it. (They string us along for 4 months, then give us 24 hours???) If he were to take it, it would leave this other kid in a lurch and we would lose all our deposit. He isn’t planning to take the dorm room because he doesn’t feel right about doing that to the roommate, so we are hoping this other kid follows through. I have a lot of angst over the whole thing:
*My kid isn’t the most savvy kid in the world - way too trusting of others. But he seems perhaps a bit better than other kid maturity wise. (They met for first time last night, and other kid seems nice enough according to H and S.)
*This apartment requires a few blocks walk to the subway, then a change of trains.<br>
*He has no furniture.<br>
*They advertised “brand new hardwood floors” then the lease requires 80% carpeting by tenants (Supposedly by NYC law???) Why advertise wood floors then?
*He can no longer roll out of bed and get to class in a few minutes.<br>
*He is responsible for all his own meals.
*We are having to turn down the Juilliard dorm before we know for certain that roommate has signed lease.</p>
<p>On the bright side, there’s hope now that he won’t be living in the subway.</p>
<p>I could go on and on. (And sometimes I do.) I am venting here because I’m trying to keep my mouth shut around S. I have been letting him do most of the legwork - we have mostly only been involved with the financial and/or legal aspects.</p>
<p>My S won’t even let me write an answer to the Juilliard email.</p>
<p>Which is probably - in the long run - a good thing.</p>
<p>Oh, did I mention we have been in the US for 3 weeks now and are currently living in a house with no furniture or furnishings? And that we didn’t need this?</p>
<p>argh.</p>
<p>Binx - he’s a freshman, I presume??? Take the dorm room, it’ll be the best $500 you ever gave away.</p>
<p>No - he’s a rising junior. The $500 is absolutely no big deal. He’d get that back in no time, given transportation and food expenses. The problem is that he’s agreed with this other kid to be roommates. He’s the kind of person who would rather sleep in the subway than leave a friend (or acquaintance) in the lurch. It is this friendly, concerned, big-heartedness that makes me nervous about him living in NYC in the first place. He is so trusting and willing to see the good in everything that it makes him a target sometimes. (Even by Juilliard.) He’s not exactly naive (though close.) Just sees it as a lesser evil than being selfish. He’ll be 21 soon. I’m trying hard to back off.</p>
<p>Ditto to what cangel said. I would definitely have my kid go for the dorm as well. No roommate, rent, or landlord problems.</p>
<p>I hope you took the dorm room; I see it is after the deadline so too late to give opinion. But whatever happens I hope it works out.</p>
<p>I feel really badly for you with all this going on. Difficult thing. I also would be inclined to take the dorm room as that is exactly what you had wanted all along and fits his needs the best. I know it is hard to let others down but you also have to think of your own needs. In the case of this other boy, HE already changed his mind once with your son (when giving up the original apt. for this other one). I may have asked the school for another 24 hour extension saying it was an unexpected offer and he has to get out of other housing which he wisely was lining up in case a dorm room did not open. I would then talk to the other kid and perhaps offer to help find him a roomie or just be overly apologetic and say that his situation has changed and he needs to be closer to school, save money, whatever, and he needs to take this offer because of the various reasons with commuting, eating and expenses.</p>
<p>Also, this other boy is not a close friend and they were just agreeing to live together due to the predicament they were in. I know he’d still be letting him down but it is not as if they signed the lease and this boy also backed out of one original arrangement they had made. The other kid will have to deal with it and this is not so uncommon of a thing to happen to have a potential roommate change plans before signing a lease. You can make it be about the difference in costs which is not a lie actually anyway.</p>
<p>Binx–I very much sympathesize with you. I would see the moral question like you did, and probably would make the same call, unless I talked to the other boy and felt he could handle the situation, possibly by finding another roommate. But you needed to make a fast decision, and you did the honorable thing. I admire that.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be too worried about your big-hearted son in NYC. I also have one of those. The other day, we traveled into the city for a ball game, and S was chatting away with strangers on the subway. He’s streetsmart and friendly at the same time. He also seems extremely competent in getting around in the city which has given him a nice confidence boost in general.</p>
<p>We also witnessed a lot of random acts of neighborliness and helpfulness just on this one trip ( for instance a guy on the commuter bus who didn’t know he needed a ticket, not cash–one person on the bus sold him an extra ticket, another made change so he could buy it, etc.)</p>
<p>I’m also assuming the decision has already happened, and I understand why you’d go either way on it, but if he is now in the apartment (which it sounds like) I’d just be proud I’d raised such an upstanding young man, and feel confident he’ll do fine in NYC, if I were you.</p>
<p>Ahh, since he’s a junior, I would let him make the call. I was leaning more toward the dorm room for an 18 year old. It is admirable that he wants to help his friend, and he’s going to be on his own soon anyway. I bet he gets those street smarts quickly, once he’s moved in, and I certainly hope he doesn’t lose that big heart!</p>
<p>First thing I thought was that if the other parent won’t do automatic deduction…RUN!</p>
<p>Automatic deduction protects both the landlord and you. No late fees, no last minute move outs, etc.</p>
<p>If it’s not too late, I’d simply contact the other family and tell them they dragged their feet too long, and grab that dorm room. They’d just as soon do that to you.</p>