Housing
U.C. San Diego is surrounded by a lot of (relatively expensive) housing options. San Diego has become a booming telcommunications center. A lot of this growth has happened in Sorrento Valley - yes one exit north of campus on the 5. This means that apartment rentals have gotten more scarce and more expensive in the areas around campus (UTC, La Jolla, Sorrento Valley). It's possible to live on the beach, but it can be expensive, and many landlords only rent the apartments to students for 9 months, renting during the summer months at much higher rates to tourists.
The housing nearby in the UTC area is mostly condominiums and apartments. The average rate (in the area)is about $1200-$1900 for a two bedroom apartment, and $800-$1200 for a one bedroom apartment. Most of the complexes near school are large (300 apartments/townhouses, usually as a large number of two or three story buildings).
University Apartments
Note: With the advent of the One Miramar Apartment complex, the difficulty of getting into graduate housing is reduced.
The campus runs graduate/married apartments near campus, called affiliated housing. Rates are less than market, running $660-$1300 this year for a two bedroom apartment, and about $550 for a studio or one bedroom apartment. There are two ways to get into graduate student housing. First, you can be on the waiting list for anywhere for approximately one year (possibly longer for the one bedroom and studio apartments. Second you can find another graduate student who already has a two bedroom apartment, but needs another roommate. When a single graduate student gets a two bedroom apartment, that student must find another student to share the apartment within a month. If they do not find a roommate (or if their roommate leaves and they can't find a new roommate), they must move out. There are five areas of affiliated housing:
The time on the waiting list also differs depending on your situation. Currently you have to wait for 1 year and a couple of quarters, if you are single, less than a year if you are married and very little if you are married with children. Most of the housing offered is shared and if you are single you have to have a roommate.
A bit of advice: get your name on the list ASAP (basically as soon as you even think you'll be coming here). The price really is about half of what other housing in the area costs. When you get a call, you have a short 48 hours to make your decision and move in dates aren't all that far beyond that, so if you don't get housing through them and end up on a lease, be sure to update your "date of needing housing". Likewise, be sure to update your form if your preferences change. You only get to turn down two offers before being taken off the list.
The University also runs the I-house (International House) in the EleanorRosevelt college area. They usually put foreign visiting students and Americans in the same apartment to provide a nice cultural experience, and they're willing to let grad students live there as well. Costs and living arrangements are similar to the Warren apartments.
Distant Neighborhoods & Other Options
There are other areas further away from campus that are cheaper than apartments near campus.
The Clairemont area is immediately south of UTC and offers housing at significantly better prices. It's not a terribly exciting are to live in, however. Likewise with MiraMesa, UTC's neighbor to the East.
The Hillcrest area tends to have cheaper housing (the best I've heard was a one bedroom apartment for $450 or so) but the area is more urban. There's more traffic, a better nightlife, better services (grocery stores, restaurants, coffee houses) nearby, more crowded conditions, etc. Hillcrest is also on the shuttle line to campus. NorthPark, UniversityHeights, and NormalHeights are fairly similar. Hillcrest is well known as San Diego's gay district, although there's a lively mix.
Many students also live in PacificBeach. Prices are cheaper than near campus, but maybe a bit more than Hillcrest. Pacific Beach has horrendous traffic problems. It also has a very student-like atmosphere. Garnet, the main drag, has a number of nightclubs, bars, etc. OceanBeach is somewhat similar but more chill; a bit further but a bit cheaper. Both are places near the beach that are actually geared towards students.
Downtown LaJolla is also an option, although in general it's even more expensive than the UTC area.
Up the coast you have some of the coastal communities. DelMar and SolanaBeach are both gorgeous little towns not all that far up the 5 from UCSD. Prices should be about comprable with the UTC, possibly slightly cheaper. Even though they're close, the traffic from there to campus is usually bad.
The Search
The best places to search for a room or an apartment would probably be:
Off-campus housing office on campus (534-3670). They have bulletin boards where they list rooms for rent and apartments for rent. The rooms are usually with other students. They usually have a large number of listings, and most are aimed at student budgets.
San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego's daily paper. Lots of apartment listings.
San Diego Reader, weekly free paper. Lots of apartments, lots of rooms for rent.
San Diego CityBEAT, another free local paper.
San Diego Apartments, MyApartment Map's San Diego, California apartment listings on a map, uses over 100 sources.
- University run graduate/married apartments bulletin board. The Graduate/Married Student Housing office in Mesa Apartments (534-2952) has a bulletin board where they list Mesa and Coast residents who need a roommate. Mesa's board always has a few "roommate wanted" postings, and the local news groups (ucsd.housing, ucsd.grads) usually have a couple people looking for roommates.
Craig's list. An online bulletin board for such things.
The official CSE housing resources page, currently containing nothing not already mentioned.
If you're going to look for an apartment after you arrive, plan anywhere from 1 to 5 days. If you're not picky, in one day you can check out the larger complexes near campus. They're all very similar in price, service, and overall condition. But you could spend 5 days and still not see everything. Allow a day for your application to be processed, too. If you want to check out places more distant from campus, add extra time. If you don't have a car this will be particularly time-consuming. Note that in some complexes, the management may only rent a single apartment to you if your income is three times the rent.
Moving In
Costs to move in: Deposits probably vary with who you're renting from. Some places will expect no move in charges other than a deposit (typically $200 to $400 for an apartment), others may expect first month's rent, last month's rent, and security deposit. Many of the condos have one year leases. Pacific Bell will charge about $35 for installing each phone line (assuming they only have to turn on the line and don't have to install wiring.) San Diego Gas and Electric charges a lesser amount for turning on service. Utility costs for an apartment will typically be around $15/line/month for basic service and $30-40/month for electricity. Cable TV is about $30/month. Many people are not fond of San Diego's tap water; you might want to plan to buy bottled water (probably in the $15-20/month range for one or two people).
You may also have to include costs for Parking, which can be pricey.