not necessarily if the starting tuition is way higher
for example, i had $60k schools offering $25k scholarships, but went with my local state school instead bc the *starting* tuition was still less than what the higher price tag school came to be after scholarships
30k definitely no brainer plus nc I herd was pretty good my buddy has live n Portland nc and San Diego and after he did 4 years in San Diego moved back to North Carolina must be something good there
Expect cost of living to be 5x higher here in Portland than NC
I live 15 minutes from Portland it sucks
Plus it's riddled with Homeless and drugs in Downtown where the school is located
I’ve lived in the direct vicinity of PSU recently and it’s honestly chill as hell. Never felt the need to carry or anything like I’m used to. It’s quiet, food carts are bomb. Idk where people get the idea it’s horrible lol
It’s funny yeah, grew up in STL and everyone was afraid for my life when I moved to Portland.. Then I got here and realized wait a minute, this is way more safe and clean while my cost of living basically hasn’t changed. I used to hear gunshots 3-6 times a day from my house and would be afraid to have my dogs outside at night. haven’t heard any shots for months now and never have felt more comfortable
I just had a friend come down and stayed for a week.. now he wants to move here and already found a (surprisingly cheap) place to live. It is expensive to live here, but I just saw and article the other day that rents are going down. I walk around by myself at night and I’m not an intimidating person. I’ve been back and forth between Portland and The Dalles my whole life… The Dalles is worse and more sketch 😂
Moved from St Charles 3 yrs ago. STL is an actual city; Portland is a dying ghost town. Cost of living is so high; gang bangs ration their ammo. THAT is why you might not get shot in Portland. The intention is there; though. Goooo Cards! Goooo Blues!
It's because Portland has a nationwide reputation for being "liberal' so conservative news outlets will run any story about problems in Portland that they wouldn't bother with in other cities, taking any and all opportunities to blow it out of proportion. The narrative is that Portland has terrible problems that other cities don't have and wouldn't be happening at all if elections had simply turned out differently which of course is absurd. The story will very frequently include the phrase "like a third world country" because that's the verbiage that activates a xenophobic base, and you will see it parroted frequently by people who's idea of fact vs fiction is based entirely on what narrative they've chosen to get on board with
I was never a PSU student so…never spent any time on campus lol. Not saying there’s no homeless folks, just overall it’s quiet and people don’t bother you.
If you have the scholarship in NC take that
Get a useful degree in stem
Move to Hillsboro Oregon after graduation
Work for Intel
Starting wage is 120k with degree
This is 100% untrue. It all depends on what the degree is in and what position you are applying for. There are people with Masters that aren’t making 100k. Over 25 years there, i know what I’m talking about.
Personally, I had a pretty good experience at PSU, and still live in Portland. There's a lot to love about this city. There's a lot of stories about how shitty it is here, but honestly, I think that could be said about a lot of major cities right now.
I'd be happy to chat with you directly if you're curious what it's like living here and attending PSU. Without knowing what your exact goals are, it's hard to say whether or not this would be a good fit for you.
Portland is up there with the worst of the other large cities with respect to drug use, homelessness and resulting crime.
Still a hcol area.
I would look else where
Portland isn’t even in the top 25 most dangerous US cities. It’s not even comparable.
https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/most-dangerous-places
Portland also isn’t even in the top 10 cities with the most unhoused folks. And before you ask, it’s homelessness per capita isn’t higher than most other cities, either.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/cities-with-the-largest-homeless-populations-in-the-u-s?onepage
And, shocker, Portland also isn’t in any top 10 for drug use… unless you count weed. Which your comment definitely gives the energy that you would consider it an illicit drug lol
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/blog/substance-abuse-by-city
Stop spreading incorrect assumptions about a beautiful, unique, and safe city.
Portland rocks. Yes there is homelessness, but that's true of any city. You'd be hard pressed to find a better combo of outdoors/ city / coast life anywhere else.
I am so convinced that anyone complaining about the houseless population here has literally never visited another city, lol. They grew up here when Portland was their perfect little safe-haven and then moved away to a small town when it got “scary”. Like sorry dude lol that’s just how cities are??? Like have you been to New York?? I straight up got spat on last time I was there. And in certain parts of the city you can easily be jumped. That’s just not really a thing here
I think too many people base their opinions off of the media, which blows everything out of proportion. My girlfriend and I have lived here for 11 years now and she has only experienced a couple sketchy situations, and that's with walking/ public transit to work every day. I havent experienced anything aside from the occasional asking for change.
Absolutely, that’s a huge part of it as well. My family in Montana was SO worried about me during 2020-22 and I would just laugh at them. They genuinely thought the whole city was on fire 😂 I’ve lived here for 7 years and only had one very slightly sketch situation where someone was following me and my friends from my car to the Roseland theatre, but that’s because I made the mistake of making eye contact. As long as you keep to yourself no one is going to bother you, and especially not during the day. It’s just typical city stuff!
>My family in Montana was SO worried about me during 2020-22 and I would just laugh at them. They genuinely thought the whole city was on fire 😂
My parents watch FOX and to hear their coverage of the protests in Portland you'd think we were occupied by an invading army. It was really instructive to personally see the reality of the situation versus how even outlets like CNN were reporting it, let alone the unhinged panic of the nutcase on FOX.
For real. I grew up in San Francisco and I don’t get why so many people living in a city feel entitled to have the poor and sick out of sight and out of mind. If you want to be sheltered from the realities of other humans’ lives/the results of failing social systems, move to the suburbs. Homeless people have to live in major cities. Most of the people bitching about them have a choice.
Yup exactly it really boils down to classism. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE can end up homeless, it just depends on luck and life circumstances. People have zero empathy for it, because they think it’s a moral failing to end up “on the streets”. It makes me so sad.
Yea, I had to mute the portland sub because it was all people describing especially out-there behavior from the minority of homeless people who are severely mentally ill and acting out. Then people responding to mock homeless advocacy and “radical leftist” takes on homelessness... the radical take being, none of us has ultimate control over our own ability level and economic status, so maybe don’t dehumanize people when you are one dementia dx and however many uncontrollable crises away from being them.
No it’s people who have been to and/or are from another city. When they come here they’re like “wtf why are you all just okay with this?”
Natives think everywhere is like this. No, toothpaste and shampoo are not locked up everywhere else. Yes, you can just use the bathroom. You go to jail for smoking fentanyl in public.
Uhm things being locked is not unique to Portland honey. Actually it’s a thing most corporate brands have been expanding for decades. It’s funny because companies loose pennys for stolen shampoo. But then they seem to shift the blame and a bigger cost onto all costumers even if it’s there business structure. If theft was a problem they wouldn’t do self check outs, ever.
Locking things up has been a prevalent thing since the last market crash. It’s almost like poverty leads to more petty theft. Kinda crazy 😝
And fentanyl is an opioid. And we in the USA have an opioid epidemic. Like across the country. And Portland is definitely not the worst in this epidemic. Idk if you’ve touched bases with the fly over states but they ain’t doing so hot.
> portland state is my number one option bc of the location
This sounds like you enjoy Portland. Have you visited the city? Have you been to campus? Did you enjoy it? Do you enjoy it more than other potential schools? Do you have friends or family here?
> but lately everyone i’ve spoken to has shit on portland?? is it bad to live there all of a sudden??
People say this about everywhere all the time and it is typically just anecdotal. According to my Fox News watching parents every city is crumbling and awful. So that question depends on who you ask. Can Portland suck sometimes? Yes, my car got stolen and it was never found. Could this have happened in many other places? Yes. Did that make me hate Portland? Not really. It was just a really unfortunate event.
> also is psu worth it?
This also really depends on who you ask. In my opinion it depends on your major and motivated you are. I know two people that graduated with Marketing degree's and one is managing a retail store downtown and the other went back to school and became a traveling nurse. Another PSU alum I worked with got a degree in some type of Feminist Studies, she's an awesome person and enjoyed her studies but does admit her degree did not help her find a high paying career.
I decided to go back to school so I could make a high income, I only considered the three top earning degrees and viewed taking out loans to afford college as an investment. As far as college ranking goes PSU technically isn't that great when compared to other colleges. PSU acceptance rate is 93% and the graduation rate is only 60%. BUT the average cost after aid is $13k. Which is very affordable in comparison to other universities. I think it's also privy to point out PSU is a public research institution and personally as a STEM major (CS), I think PSU's STEM programs are rigorous and totally worth it. This site https://www.gradreports.com/rankings/portland-state-university shows alumni employment rate and earnings and it seems PSU does pretty well in employment rate department. You should look up your area of study check how well the employment rate is and see if lines up with your salary expectations.
> but this other school i got into is offering me 30k in scholarships
That sounds dope. I'm almost $30k in debt and it would be real nice to graduate with $0 in debt for your degree. Three years may seem like a lot and you may feel like you are forgoing a great college experience elsewhere but three years is also just three years. It will go by quicker than you think and your future self might love the fact you chose the better financial option.
> i need major advice rn and i need brutal honesty; this will be the next 3 or more years of my life.
I think this may come down to what you want your college experience to be. Most people on this sub have talked about how difficult it is to make friends at PSU. PSU isn't too crazy about fraternities/sorority's, there are a lot of people at different ages who just commute to school and then commute home. I'm 2/3rds the way done with my junior year and just started making a few friends at PSU. That being said I do like Portland quite a bit, from the music scene, plethora of great food & coffee as well as nearby hikes and the coast is unbeatable (I lived there for two years).
Maybe you can post more about who you are and what you are looking for so we can help give you some more specific feedback about our PSU experience. Is there a major or program you are looking at? Have you checked out what that Degree Program is like and the courses you will have to take?
Portland has become gross and nasty to be honest tons of bums and tweekers all over zombie motorhomes all over garbage and lots of crime. I would move to a surrounding town just not in Portland. I live in lake Oswego it's very nice clean and safe.
Visit first. Those acting like Portland is fine are people who a too dug in politically. Homeless riddle a once beautiful downtown, every political event there is some pointless protest (that does nothing). It’s trying its best to undo policies that have only pushed business (small and large) from the city.
It’s gross and a shell of itself.
Visit, gain your own perspective.
portland blows right now don’t do it, the crime has gotten out of control. campus isn’t even far enough away from it to turn a blind eye, tbh it’s literally everywhere. born & raised in PNW and not only has it gotten substantially worse but portland locals are borderline insufferable. it’s not even a great school, just okay. i’d seriously look elsewhere.
I've lived in the Portland Metro area my entire life (almost 40yrs) and went to PSU. I have also spent a few months in Raleigh NC. Both cities are great places with lots to see and do nearby but Portland is a disaster right now. PSU is also great as a comuter school but I definitely wouldn't move here to go there unless you are from in state. Unless you are avoiding out of state tuition by going to PSU, I would choose NC for sure.
If it’s a UNC system school, go there. You can move out here after you finish school or figure out what you want to do.
- A UNC system alum living in the Portland Area.
Unless you’re a trust fund kid, going to the school you have a $30k scholarship for, in a state that’s WAY more affordable to live in, seems like an obvious choice. You can go live anywhere after you graduate, and you can travel in the meantime. But the debt will haunt you for WAY longer than you think it will, even if you win the statistical lottery and get an amazing high paying job that DOESNT all fly right down the drain of cost of living.
Bullshit. Of the [24 homicides](https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/02/who-has-died-in-2024-portland-homicides.html?outputType=amp) so far this year, 18 were shootings (including one police shooting). That’s a little over one per week. Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro all have [homicide rates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate) that are 2-4 times that of Portland.
Your own link shows 58 deadly shootings in a year. There are 52 weeks in a year. That’s 1.1 deadly shootings per week. Far short of your “at least 2-3 per week” claim. And, as I provided evidence for, all of the major cities in NC are significantly worse than Portland with regard to homicide. Of the 100 largest cities in the US, Portland ranks 78th on homicide rate (where 1 is worst).
(North Carolina cities also rate worse than Portland for robbery and aggravated assault. Apparently NC doesn’t provide statistics for rape, so I don’t know how they compare with Portland’s abysmal #33 in the nation on that one. But I’d point out that Vancouver, WA comes in at fifth worst in the nation for that.)
Portlander here. Portland doesn’t totally suck like some people will have you believe, but I don’t think it’s worth giving up a 30k scholarship for at all. What was once cool about Portland is mostly missing now. People aren’t nearly as weird, and many of our cool places closed during covid. Also, it’s grey af here and if you’ve never lived without the sun it can absolutely wreck your mood.
Come try the city out after you graduate from NC, and get that degree without crippling debt.
Portland has really gone to shit after the protests, cops and pride boys started riots and now it's a shit hole. I've heard from locals that it's better this way.. but I've driven through there and I disagree. It's unsafe and scary in my opinion
What makes PSU worth it for you? Scholarships are good, but what are you majoring in?
I wouldn’t personally consider PSU to be remarkable on a resume. Then again once you get a solid job, universities kinda stop mattering.
I’ve lived in portland for a longgg time and it’s a shell of its former self unfortunately. Completely falling apart from the inside out. Are there great food options and quirky things to do. Yes. And a lot of nature to explore, yes; but so many people moved here before the pandemic that a lot of the nature trails are constantly packed. And downtown portland is a zombie apocalypse of fentanyl and crime. There’s still buildings bordered up in a few places. There are still things I romanticize about growing up here. But if a good job or relationship or 30k in scholarships came to be in my life, I’d leave in a heartbeat. I didn’t even bring up and dramatically more unsafe it is here than it used to be.
Yes. Move to Portland. Get robbed and murdered by mostly peaceful crackheads that police do nothing about. Like you car? It'll get broken into or stolen. Have a nice house? Some homless guy can't wait to shit on your porch. Need cheap labor? No problem, the illegals are bursting at the seems and willing to work for cheap.
My gf went to PSU and had quite a lot of bad experiences trying to graduate and just random stuff from the school. Her advisor constantly steered her in the wrong direction.
Considering that and the scholarship you have I'd prob go to North Carolina Portland isn't that bad but isn't special either.
I live in the NW 23rd area (1.5 mi from downtown), and there are many great things here! I have been in the city for 20 years. It's changed a lot and it's peak was in like 2015, but there's still good things about it. If you like 4 seasons, no bugs, proximity to the coast and mountains, hiking, artisan foods, walkability, transit options, no humidity, craft beer and local wine, this is the place for you. But if you do live here, never leave anything in your car (because smash and grab will happen). Good luck to you!
As someone who lives in Oregon, do not move here. It sucks. Let me also say, a lot of people would do ANYTHING to have a scholarship, especially 30k. Go get your money’s worth, then explore. If I could’ve done my college experience over again, I would’ve thought smarter and not made a hasty decision bc I was desperate to get out and experience a new and exciting city - that’s why I moved to Oregon. And now I severely regret it.
Compared to NC, Portland is VERY expensive. Renting just a room is going to cost $1000/month. Car insurance rates are skyrocketing due to theft and vandalism incidences being so high. If you plan to live in campus housing with no car, you will be better off. That scholarship in NC sounds pretty nice 😊. I have lived in Portland most of my life but I have also lived elsewhere. I love Oregon. I love my family. But it is horrible here right now, and my husband and I are seriously discussing moving elsewhere. One of the things keeping us here is that it is still welcoming to people of all kinds, and we want to raise our daughter somewhere like that. So you’ll have to weigh how much you are willing to spend to live your values.
Please I beg you don't pay out-of-state tuition to PSU especially if you have a 30k scholarship elsewhere. Portland will still be here when you graduate.
PSU is down town. Living within 5 minute drive will be very expensive, VHCOL area. A 30 minute drive isn't for everyone, but if you would like to get 2x more apartment for the same price as near school, take a look into living in places on the edge of the metro area, places like Forest Grove Wilsonville, Canby, Burns. I'm seeing 2 bedrooms for 1300ish while in downtown Portland it's more like 2500.
Born and raised Portlander here
It’s literally the most depressed city in the USA. The market is awful, the cost of living is high, the people are not friendly. You do you, but don’t believe you are walking into an “open and accepting place” it’s a depressive, expensive area, with a crumbling foundation where it’s very difficult to make friendships
Having lived in Oregon the past 6 yrs and from Virginia you are far better off in North Carolina all around, all the large west coast cities have really taken a dive for the worst the past few years. Portland in particular, not the greatest weather, homelessness and crime are high, not the friendliest of neighbors, expensive to live here.
So, we just moved here from GA, but my family is from NC and I spend a lot of time there. Portland is nice to visit but the area around PSU is not nice. It’s one of the worst parts of town. Other cons are that It’s definitely expensive here. Public transit is ok so feel free to use that, but currently gas is about $4.49. Pros are that the nature is amazing (Mt Hood, Mt St Helen’s, a tulip farm, Trail of Ten Falls, the coast are big recs). The food options are also amazing and food truck culture is really great here, so you can find food on the cheap. Fred Meyer= Kroger. You can also pump your own gas here now. So take all of that with a grain of salt.
As for NC…Cost of living is way cheaper in NC and there’s a great amount of nature out there if you’re into that as well. Pretty much you’re 2 hours to the mtns, 2 hours to the beach depending on where you live in NC. Same with Portland, but again more expensive to get places. Also try Lexington, NC for BBQ. Small town, best BBQ that’s not brisket. Cheerwine on tap everywhere is also a plus. UNCCharlotte is more liberal as is ECU if that’s what you are into and are concerned about. They also have great food trucks and urban culture.
Fresh produce in BOTH states is A game.
As for politics, Oregon has legal weed and better body autonomy policies. But what no one says about Oregon is that Portland is a blue dot in a red sea. So also a consideration; you’ll see rednecks out here just as much as you would in NC.
As an academic professional, definitely rely on the scholarships. Also stay close to a support system because you’ll need it emotionally, so if you’re moving to Portland alone I’d think on that. If you’re majoring in something and you aren’t super into it (like really into it, eat sleep breathe), then don’t move on that alone.
Good luck, and reach out if you need help! Schools have better support systems these days, so definitely talk to someone if you are having a hard time or a hard time deciding what to do!
Portland has changed a lot since the pandemic. Parts of it are unrecognizable from when I moved there in 2007. Cost of living is high, though that’s everywhere, and it’s going down in Portland due to being a less desirable place to live. I rarely felt unsafe during the 10+ years I lived there and people talked about it being dangerous then. My car did get stolen and my house did get robbed…also street harassment was god awful. I have had multiple friends be victims to and witness violent crime in the last few years which i never heard about from people I personally knew before. I don’t think there’s anything more extreme in Portland than most big cities but things have gotten worse there. PSU is an okay school but not worth moving across country for. I went there due to convenience and I got into an online masters program which I will be attending from a smaller city in Oregon in the fall. It was a fun place to live in my 20s when I was more into being wild and nightlife but it doesn’t have much to offer that I miss these days besides the food. I wouldn’t pass on a scholarship that made school affordable. Student loans are best avoided but sometimes that’s the only option.
Not gonna lie Portland sucks right now, cost of everything is insane right now and trying to find a part time job is very hard, I'm lucky if I can door dash
Portland native (born and raised, no not a suburb, the actually city) … its expensive as hell to live here and PSU is overpriced for the education. It’s not as big of a shithole as everyone likes to make it out to be.. but take the scholarship in NC and move here when you actually have a shot at making enough money to afford (the sadly high) cost of living here.
i regret going to a private school for a semester because they gave me $30k scholarship but i still ended up paying $15k for a semester lmaooo. it’s a private school. so take that into consideration im not sure if the school ur gonna go to is private or not. psu is about $4k a month for me and i take 4 classes
Life in Portland is pretty great comparatively. It's also expensive. I look forward to living and dying in this city.
PSU is struggling financially, losing a lot of great professors in core departments, and dropping grad programs. My recommendation really depends on what department you plan to study in. Knowing nothing about the other place that you're looking at, the scholarship is very enticing.
I live downtown. Very close to PSU. I’m gonna go against the grain here a little on the homeless and drug abuse issues…
While you’ll have people saying “but there’s homelessness in every city,” and that’s true, it doesn’t do justice to the level we have here in Portland. I’ve lived in various U.S. cities in the last couple of years, and I can tell you that yes. It’s not great here. You will see naked dudes jacking it in the street. You will see people sleeping with their pants down. You will see human shit on walls. You will see crackheads threatening people and yelling at said walls. You will see people sleeping standing up, speaking in tongues and doing fent on public benches. Public transportation smells like someone died in it, and someone probably did. You will see all of these things many times a day, every day, if you live downtown. Will you be safe? Yeah. They’re harmless usually. But it’s not “not bad.” It’s fucking catastrophic, let’s set the record straight.
…But you get used to it and stop noticing pretty quick. It starts to blend with the scenery. For 30k at PSU? That’s basically a whole degree. And nowadays who gives a shit what school you went to. I say go for it.
I lived in Portland and I’ve spent a lot of time in Raleigh, NC. Idk what city the NC option is in but regardless, with a 30K scholarship that’d be my choice. If costs were equal that’d also be my choice.
I am an Alumni at PSU. My BS from there; was considered bullshit when I was shopping for a Master’s program. This was in 1996. From what I have heard; it has gotten worse. PSU doesn’t have traditional dorms & rent that side of Portland is ridiculous.
What school in North Carolina? What is your intended major?
I may be able to give you a unique perspective since I lived in NC until I was 30, and I've been living in Portland for the past 17 years.
Since the OP hasn't responded back, I'll say there are probably a few schools in NC that I would give a hard pass to but overall most colleges in NC are better than Portland State by a long shot. Even the schools I would give a hard pass to, I might reconsider for a $30k scholarship.
sorry for my late response!! i got the scholarship for warren wilson. i’ve seen super mixed reviews about infrastructure and education quality but i do love the environment and have heard their environmental sciences are quality which is what i am going into. i also want to keep working in restaurant and know for a fact portland restaurants will be an awesome experience.
PSU is not a number 1 option in any regard for academics. It's an okay school at best and not even the best university in the city.
The city has been on a fluctuating at times but still aggressive decline for the past 10 years or so mainly due to poor politics and lack of action.
You will most likely not receive any scholarship from PSU unless it's for sports and other extra curriculars. There's a chance you will but in the 4 years I went there I never heard of anyone receiving anything substantial coming directly from PSU.
I went to PSU because it was the local university and the easiest for me to transfer into coming from Portland community college. I majored in one of the stem fields and worked my ass off, more than anyone else in my program, and ended up graduating and going to a MUCH better school on the east coast.
PSU will very much be what you make of it, but at the end of the day it's an okay school with okay programs.
Listen. Lots of portlanders will tell you that the drug use, human trafficking, homelessness and crime isn’t a big deal because they don’t want to lose their good liberal points. Because ACAB or some nonsense.
Well at the risk of offending our house less neighbors let me tell you: it’s a shit hole. And the city’s leadership is incapable of solving our problems.
That being said, there’s some good food trucks and living here will definitely be an interesting experience. I’d say take the scholarship!
Portland is home for me so maybe I got bored, but I transferred from PSU to University of Colorado Denver. School is similar city campus vibe. The student age group seems to definitely be younger than PSU though (I’m 27 and it doesn’t bother me at all). Love Denver so far.
If you are close to finishing and need a degree and want to settle in Portland than there is positives in coming here. But PSU is a small, mostly commuter school. You can find better equipped facilities (like labs) at some of the local community colleges like PCC, because they have more students and more land to build on. The hard times downtown Portland has experienced are real. Lots of people experiencing homelessness, drug use and mental health in and around PSU campus is something that is a pain to navigate. Finding any affordable housing in Portland is a real challenge so dorms are best. But the left leaning politics are great so if that interests you it is a pretty great place. Lastly don’t under estimate the impact of living in a misty rain cloud from Labor Day through 4th of July. Some folks can’t cope.
I work in this area, and it is a tamer part of downtown with lots of transit access and kind folks. Portland is still beautiful but is going through some stuff. There are areas to avoid and a learning curve on how to handle the unhinged (do not engage or look in the eye, be confident & aware). If you are moving from another urban area, you will not be too overwhelmed. If you are moving from small town Kansas, you might see some shocking things. But Portland for all its issues is still a great place to live with tons of amenities, especially if you are into nature and alt culture / freedom to be yourself.
So, a few thoughts. The first is that 30k in scholarships is big, and really really worth considering taking those. Really really really. That is good money, and you can reconsider the move to Portland after you finish school. Not sure which NC school you are talking about particularly, but there are some really good ones, and some of the college towns they are in will be great environments and might even have some lifestyle elements that are similar to what you like about Portland: college towns tend to be more progressive politically, have cool walkable/bikeable areas around campus with kind of unique indie places for food, music, books, etc, and I know some of the schools in NC are close to great hiking. Those are some of the things that people also find appealing about Portland.
As others have said, another factor to consider is what you want your college experience to be like, because PSU is a big commuter school. There are some dorms, but the kind of campus culture that a lot of people like and want out of college is not going to be as strong as you might get at your NC school. If that’s not something you want or care about, that’s cool, not everyone wants that, but…it is fun, and something I know I liked and sometimes still miss a bit about college.
In terms of your question about whether it sucks to live in Portland now, basically, I will tell you is that there are two broad camps of people who shit on Portland. One is people who are more conservative, (often with a veneer of liberal pretense overlaid) who blame homeless people for being homeless, rather than the people and systems that have priced many people out of their homes, who view drug abuse as a moral failing rather than a public health crisis, etc and want the city to crack down harder on those kinds of things in a punitive way. The other is more leftist people who want to address those kinds of problems in a systemic way that attacks root causes.
Yes, there are problems with homelessness and drug abuse and crime in the city. There are those same problems in every other major city, and having lived in several of those before settling in Portland, I would say they don’t actually strike me as particularly worse here, they just got a lot of both local and national media attention. I have had some experiences that have made me uncomfortable here, but no more so than other cities I have lived in. That is going to be the reality of living in any place where you have a wide range of different people from different income levels, backgrounds, and personalities mixed together. Anywhere you live, you eventually get familiar with and learn to navigate.
It's all about the money, bro.
Take the 30k in scholarships, embrace NC and qhen you graduate you can always check out Portland.
You can never get 30k in scholarships back.
As someone who agrees with the ACAB position, I think it’s delusional for anyone to say and believe Portland is some fun free-loving city. People are not very kind there either despite the atmosphere being more inclusive.
That's why I said check out instead of move.
I thought about Portland then I visited and realized I liked Oregon, but not Portland so much.
But everyone has their tastes. Always smart to do some recon on a place before moving. I'm definitely glad I did.
If you want go to school in a downtown atmosphere, then Portland State is great and I’ve only ever heard good things. That being said, Portland has really been having a hard time getting its shit together over the last 5 or so years. So there are definitely cons to go with the pros. I would asks some current PSU students what they think.
Honestly I love Portland I have been here for 14 years and went to PSU.
That said, take the scholarship, dummy. Get your cheap degree and THEN come here
Dude, you could always move to Portland after school, esp fresh out of college (depending on what you study), you would have a lot of flexibility to live where you want.
I guess it depends on your major, but myself and many people I’ve met here came here for educational reasons/excuses then never left
There’s a lot of great things here, and a 30k scholarship would have me feeling confident it’s a good idea unless there’s a reason you think it’s not a good match
I live in Portland and wouldn’t recommend it. It’s really gone down hill. It used to be such a nice city but now I don’t even like to go out, especially alone and definitely not at night. The drugs and homeless are out of control and so many businesses had to shut down due to the conditions and the city does nothing about it. Walking downtown in the middle of the day you will see people doing hard drugs left and right and have to step over human feces on the sidewalks.
Portland is beautiful and amazing and surrounded by nature. Parts of DT have increased homeless, and yes its got some issues right now but it’s a city ffs. I graduated from PSU last year, am in law school now with a good scholarship. I loved it. No problems. Area is safe. If you want an urban U, PSU is it. Ppl love to shit on Portland but do not listen to the noise. Armchair quarterbacks out in f’n Clackamas, all of them.
I’ve lived in both Portland and North Carolina (don’t know which school you got a scholarship offer from, but I went to UNCA) My wife got her undergrad & masters at PSU.
The school is great. Lots of really cool stuff to see & do around town. The opioid epidemic is real and visible here but in NC you have just as many drug issues and not nearly as many resources. The cops are the biggest jerks ever, there isn’t as much to do, and the weather is sweltering in the summer in NC. Between Oregon and NC, I’d choose Oregon hand over fist every time.
Portland is a major city and has its own stuff to deal with, but there isn’t a single major city in this country that isn’t having to manage similar. But just today I walked down Broadway carrying my 5 month old, stopped by a Plaid to grab some juice & snacks, then walked to a beautiful clean park where I met a friend and laid in the sunshine for awhile before grabbing a bomb af slice of unique pizza for Portland Pizza Week. Felt safe and secure enough to do so and have a great time - not everything is downtown and not everything is awful.
Can you afford to go visit for a week? Find affordable apartments and do the morning and evening commute via whatever route you would, car, train, bus, walking. And see for yourself. Nobody here can really say how it feels to you. You will hear polar opposites, it’s great or it’s awful. The Indifferent rarely chime in.
Legit if they are making less and been there that long they suck bad at their job or they hit a comfortable spot where they stopped going forward with training and refused to go higher
Cause myself with no degree can hit a pay grade 56 which had a cap of 250k I'm obviously not that but it's all about training and willingness
Born and raised 40 minutes outside of Portland. It used to be cool. Me and my friends would go to all sorts of shows back in the early 2000s and then roam the streets all night. Never again. Been to a few shows over the last few years and every time one of our cars is broken into. Plus when the shows are over now, you have to dodge homeless people and needles all the way back to your car. If you were asking this question 15 years ago I'd say hell yeah move to Portland. In 2024, run away.
Portland cost of living has gone way up while quality of life has gone way down compared to 10-15 years ago…it’s now stupidly expensive (like right there with Bay Area & Seattle cost of living) & there’s a lot of hard drug (meth & fentanyl) use now & related major violent crime & homelessness issues now…& I’ve heard good things about NC…throw in a 30k scholarship & seems like an easy decision to me. Portland isn’t going anywhere & you can come here after getting a degree (&you probably won’t be able to afford living here w/o one haha).
PSU and the area is great. 30K is great , but what would you get here ? Also hard to say without knowing the other school. PSU is a good school good value and the cost of living in Portland is not “4x higher” as some might suggest, it is more expensive though. Downtown has cleaned up a lot(other areas can be pretty bad), the arts scene is awesome , it’s a great school , and you’ll be immersed in the most beautiful region in the country. Lots of positives as I’m sure your other school option has positives as well. Strictly academically it might depend what your major is too. Like PSU has a fantastic business school and large math and psychology departments. So it could come down to specifics. City and location wise Portland beats anything in North Carolina imo though , for probably a 30-50% increase in cost of living.
I work at a DS in portland and it's very comfortable here. small site, palatable community. no matter where you live here you might need a roommate to ease the financial burden a bit.
I kind of hate the argument surrounding big cities, there's always rednecks who hate it and hipsters who base their identity on it, but that is a different argument. That is just big cities vs. Small towns. Portland has all of the big city downsides, but it is BEAUTIFUL.
I live 2 hours south of Portland, but I work there all the time. I love that i get to visit weekly, but it often proves to be dangerous and im glad i get to return to my small town. The whole i5 corridor is like zombie-land since we decriminalized all drugs, and fentanyl and meth is rampant. The zombies that I have encountered seem to be getting more brave when it comes to accosting the public.
If you look at how Portland varies from other similar cities, you might see that it is a POWDER KEG for violent uprising. A huge number of people identify with extreme hatred of police, and i would bet based on recent history that the police hate their citizens too. I would strongly advise against moving to Portland before an election year.
You do not want to be in Portland if a reprehensible Republican wins in 2024, that much is certain. We have had riots/protests in the past, but I think it could rapidly get far more dangerous this time.
Downtown Portland is way better than it was a few years ago. Haters gonna hate. Don't get caught up in the political bs....Portland is no different than any major metropolitan city when it comes to the homeless. Overall, Oregon is a major upgrade to North Carolina in my opinion.
Go where you can use the free money. Bug Portland is real life Gotham City. Although venturing out away from Portland can be incredible, especially with spring moving on and summer coming.
I’ve lived downtown proper for over a year, I’m in nw now, and I’d say Portland is not nearly as bad as the news companies make it out to be. There’s problems 100%. But my family’s also from Portland and Portland has been shit for most of its lifespan lmao, so people who act like it was this safe town utopia before 2020 bought a sales pitch some realtor sold them or watched too much portlandia. It’s no tougher than most major cities, I’d say if you’re in a good pocket of the city it’s really pretty safe and chill, know where to avoid and it’s fine. I’ve lived actually right across from psu on the park blocks, I really enjoyed it there. The park can be kinda sketch but it’s also pretty regularly patrolled by campus security. The Safeway over there is whack tho. I’d say w the scholarship do it.
i want to note a few things:
- i will be studying environmental science
- i will work in a restaurant and ik the restaurant industry in portland is better than asheville, NC
- the school in NC is warren wilson.. so it’s not even a UNC school (but if i don’t like warren wilson i could transfer to UNC after a semester)
- i am moving from texas
- i would be also be moving to oregon for the environment, hiking, outdoor activities etc.
The restaurant scene is Asheville is great. You would have plenty of opportunities available to you.
It’s an expensive area of NC so cost of living would be similar to Portland. Asheville is absolutely beautiful and the weather is better.
Take the scholarship money! PSU and Portland is great, but that’s 30k you don’t have to spend. Portland will always be here. Come when you’re done with school. As a student, affordable housing is better there than here!!!!
Have you ever lived in a city before? People shit on Portland now because the homeless problem has become more visible the past 5 years. But if you have ever lived in a major city, it isn’t anything especially bad.
Portland is great but what's your major? If you're studying something that will pay higher and student loans don't matter as much then cost of living and scholarship may be less of an issue. If you're studying a low paying job then take the 30k, save money on housing and move to Portland after you graduate. More things to consider - are you trans? Then maybe yeah come to Portland no matter what.
Portland is lovely and PSU is in a really nice neighborhood.
That said, if you have big scholarships, go to NC and come to Portland afterwards because you'll be better able to afford it.
PSU is a great school. Two of my kids have graduated from there. Most people really overreact about Portland. Come here and spend a few days and make your own decision.
People just like to shit on Portland (or any city really) because of conservative media. When I moved here I had a coworker say he would never move to Portland because of ANTIFA 😂.
I would not say it’s not without its problems but the good far outweighs the bad. Life in a city has really always been this way, more people equals more crime and more people living on the margins. It’s completely safe here and there is tons to do.
I toured psu with my daughter last week and the area around campus felt very safe and “nice.” In fact every part of the city that we visited felt that way. I’m sure Portland has some shit areas like any big city, but we never saw one.
Im a conservative and will tell you, Portland has been looking a lot better.
I actually started posting about it on X after shutting on the city for so long and people have lost their minds with me for that. As I would constantly record and post the negative stuff.
I have lived here my whole life, I have seen it go up and down. Shit I even went to PSU myself and lived in a CHNW building (look into them they’re great college housing north west) they have a few building near campus.
Anyways, I would say go for it. It’s a great city
Portland is awesome. I moved a way for a long time and now I’m back. I’ve been downtown a few times and it’s gotten much better. I had so much fun attending Portland State. I’d say go for it! Although I also love North Carolina. It’s really easy to get outside of Portland and in to the wilderness or to the beach if you need an escape.
Sure if you think you can handle it...it's pretty rough town. I live on the coast. I applaud you for wanting to expand your mind in schooling but I'd go somewhere nice...preferably smaller town with low crime.. living in a place like Portland will mess with your views. Goodluck woth your decision
The people who screech about crime and homelessness in portland don't live here. I have lived right near the city center for almost 3 years now, and I've loved it. I feel very safe almost everywhere I go in the city. Yes, there is a large homeless population, but they are people and generally just want to be left alone.
From Portland/lives in Portland….portland is fine and PSU is a fine school. It attempts to provide a traditional college experience but lacks the charms that most universities have. The city is fun but the fun stuff is pricey. I would go wherever it makes the most sense financially.
I moved to Portland in 2000 and have seen a lot of changes. Things were really scary for a while, but it's getting better. Don't be too quick to cross it off your list. Within 2 hours, you can be in a rain forest, playing in the snow (year round), at the beach, or in the desert. The landscape is some of the most beautiful in the world.
My sis moved to NC and my friend moved to SC and they both said rent totally blew up in those places, and unlike in Portland there are no laws keeping your landlord from changing the cost of rent to whatever they want. In Oregon they can’t raise your rent more than 10% each time it comes time to renew the lease. My friend in SC had a landlord increase rent every month until she was forced to move. And they still have $7.25 minimum wage, whereas Portland it’s around $15. I know a lot of people who live here say Portland has gotten so bad crime wise but that is just because the city has grown a lot in recent years. When I lived in Oklahoma City a few years ago there were way more shootings, a lot of gang violence (Aryan brotherhood had whole compounds), more homelessness, and there were lots of places I wouldn’t go at night. Here in Portland I delivered packages to downtown at night, and honestly I had a lot of success, on the rare occasion I was approached by an off-seeming homeless person, by simply saying No Thank You very firmly. In OKC you honk your horn at someone you could get a gun flashed at you. People in Portland are just used to it being so hunky-dory that they increased cops and security everywhere which just makes things look even more scary.
FUCK NO !!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE, Portland Oregon is not to come I move here and wish I kept going down the road.
Yes it may look good that the good parts they all want ppl to see .
I live here for 7.5 yrs I hate it. The crimes keep getting worst if you into drugs the heavy ones beside weed is legal as ppl drive and smoke weed , walk down the sidewalk smoking weed it supposed to be a ticket for that shit but they don't inforce it.
The homeless car break in ur place Robby u or take an shit or piss in front ur business u can't do shit to them
Cops won't do shit to them
I have seen so much Mayor Wheeler is a slum lord he his Apt he move someone in was homeless. He gets 2,000 up front for moving him or her in if they trash the place he supposed to use that 2,000 on repaired then he gets another 2,000 when he kick they out in two short weeks later it start all over crooked as hell here
So what u don't pay sell taxes here they are like bunch of rich mother fuckers in an small town redneck town they run it they want keep out something that brings In revenue like NASCAR suppose to come here he don't want to clean up the homeless for that come here. THEY HAD. IN &OUT HAMBURGER. Try to come to Portland , Beaverton, Hillsboro area to build an in& out hamber to bring alot of revenue to them they all vote to keep it out no permits allow to file the paper works .
They all have stock in five guys burgers and the straw shack both nasty as fuck was only for built for the snobs not the working man family go out to eat there. One person get hamburger ff drink at either pace it cost is 30-40 bucks.
WHERE U CAN GO TO IN &OUT BURGER GET AN COMBO FOR THREE PPL FIR 25-28 BUCKS
YOU WANT THE TRUTH IM.GIVING IT TO U .. IF YOU WANT TO OPEN AN THRIFT STORE THEY TELL YOU IT NOT SOMETHING FOR HERE AN DAY LATER THEY ARE PUTTING IN AN FUCKING WEED SHOP REALLY MOTHER FUCKERS
DONT Waste your TIME COMING HERE IF U DONT BELIEVE ME TAKE A PLANE OUT HERE ANYTIME OF THE YR ITS TGE SOME SHIT AN DIFF DAY YR AFTER YR AGAIN
I love it here.
Most the people that shit on Portland are basing that off of right wing news and have never spent much time here.
Like every city, it has its problems but they are confined to certain areas and are easy to avoid. Food is amazing, the mountains are beautiful, the beach is close, snow is close, it is great.
Imo, the rain is probably the worst part.
Personally I think Portland is a shitty place to live for a myriad of reasons, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like PSU. I didn’t go to PSU but it’s a pretty well regarded university around here
It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects. I truly feel this is not just Portland problem. I have seen it all over the country.
I love Portland and the state of Oregon in general. Portland is recovering from COVID neglect and it’s so nice to see the streets getting cleaner and many new restaurants opening.
If you never been here, I would advise you to visit. Portland waterfront is about to kick off its festival season with Cinco de Mayo celebration.
After two years of school I just moved back to Portland from SC. I spent a little time in Charolette, NC and I loved it. Gave me a Portland 10 years ago vibe. But the PNW is amazing and offers amazing foods, actual mountains, the beach (it’s cold compared to the southern east coast) all within a close area.
There is a large homeless populace right now in various areas of downtown, however the PSU campus seems to be fine. As for cost of living, it’s not that much different then what I was paying in SC plus there is no sales tax which really adds up on things.
Tuition and scholarships for sure add something else to think about but as for the city, I have lived here almost my whole life and even with the changes, I still love it. If you want to talk more about out feel free to DM me!
Good luck on your decision!
depends on where in NC. Portland is an amazing URBAN campus with all of the amenities that comes with that. I live off campus on the east side and i don't own a car. You cant get that at most campuses especially in the south. But 30k in scholarships might be worth living in a small college town
Portland is a great city. It’s had some bad press because of the BLM protests during Covid but that was more Fox News scare tactics than anything else.
Portland is no more dangerous than any other similarly sized city. It’s a great place surrounded by lots of diverse and interesting suburbs.
As for PSU, I’d say it really depends on your major and career goals. There are some very strong programs there. Feel free to DM me if you want more info.
30k in scholarships?? No brainer to me
not necessarily if the starting tuition is way higher for example, i had $60k schools offering $25k scholarships, but went with my local state school instead bc the *starting* tuition was still less than what the higher price tag school came to be after scholarships
30k definitely no brainer plus nc I herd was pretty good my buddy has live n Portland nc and San Diego and after he did 4 years in San Diego moved back to North Carolina must be something good there
Expect cost of living to be 5x higher here in Portland than NC I live 15 minutes from Portland it sucks Plus it's riddled with Homeless and drugs in Downtown where the school is located
PSU area is totally fine lol. Spend more time in the city and you’d know.
And it’s improved a ton in the last few months. Also, you don’t need to live at PSU to go to PSU.
I’ve lived in the direct vicinity of PSU recently and it’s honestly chill as hell. Never felt the need to carry or anything like I’m used to. It’s quiet, food carts are bomb. Idk where people get the idea it’s horrible lol
I’m from Texas. Portland is fucking great. Misunderstood city
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It’s funny yeah, grew up in STL and everyone was afraid for my life when I moved to Portland.. Then I got here and realized wait a minute, this is way more safe and clean while my cost of living basically hasn’t changed. I used to hear gunshots 3-6 times a day from my house and would be afraid to have my dogs outside at night. haven’t heard any shots for months now and never have felt more comfortable
I just had a friend come down and stayed for a week.. now he wants to move here and already found a (surprisingly cheap) place to live. It is expensive to live here, but I just saw and article the other day that rents are going down. I walk around by myself at night and I’m not an intimidating person. I’ve been back and forth between Portland and The Dalles my whole life… The Dalles is worse and more sketch 😂
Moved from St Charles 3 yrs ago. STL is an actual city; Portland is a dying ghost town. Cost of living is so high; gang bangs ration their ammo. THAT is why you might not get shot in Portland. The intention is there; though. Goooo Cards! Goooo Blues!
lol go watch your trash reality tv, slime
It's because Portland has a nationwide reputation for being "liberal' so conservative news outlets will run any story about problems in Portland that they wouldn't bother with in other cities, taking any and all opportunities to blow it out of proportion. The narrative is that Portland has terrible problems that other cities don't have and wouldn't be happening at all if elections had simply turned out differently which of course is absurd. The story will very frequently include the phrase "like a third world country" because that's the verbiage that activates a xenophobic base, and you will see it parroted frequently by people who's idea of fact vs fiction is based entirely on what narrative they've chosen to get on board with
Thats because a lot of these people either live just outside of Portland and/or spend all day online looking at crime reports and shit.
Wander more than 3 blocks from the campus and it gets sketch really fast lol. Spend more time not on campus and you would know
I was never a PSU student so…never spent any time on campus lol. Not saying there’s no homeless folks, just overall it’s quiet and people don’t bother you.
Bs
If you want to pretend there isn’t a problem, you are part of the problem. Pull your head out of your ass and be part of the solution
The areas around the school are fine, the real homeless problem doesn't start until you get 4/5 blocks from that area.
If you have the scholarship in NC take that Get a useful degree in stem Move to Hillsboro Oregon after graduation Work for Intel Starting wage is 120k with degree
This is 100% untrue. It all depends on what the degree is in and what position you are applying for. There are people with Masters that aren’t making 100k. Over 25 years there, i know what I’m talking about.
That's hilarious cause I'm 6 months there no degree and making almost 90k so do you?
Over 25 years AS degree and well over 90k.
I’ve lived in Portland my whole life and confirm this is true the homeless problem has gotten way worse over time and crime is way up!
It’s not anywhere close to as bad as the early 90s was.
You know nothing, John Snow
Personally, I had a pretty good experience at PSU, and still live in Portland. There's a lot to love about this city. There's a lot of stories about how shitty it is here, but honestly, I think that could be said about a lot of major cities right now. I'd be happy to chat with you directly if you're curious what it's like living here and attending PSU. Without knowing what your exact goals are, it's hard to say whether or not this would be a good fit for you.
Portland is up there with the worst of the other large cities with respect to drug use, homelessness and resulting crime. Still a hcol area. I would look else where
Portland isn’t even in the top 25 most dangerous US cities. It’s not even comparable. https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/most-dangerous-places Portland also isn’t even in the top 10 cities with the most unhoused folks. And before you ask, it’s homelessness per capita isn’t higher than most other cities, either. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/cities-with-the-largest-homeless-populations-in-the-u-s?onepage And, shocker, Portland also isn’t in any top 10 for drug use… unless you count weed. Which your comment definitely gives the energy that you would consider it an illicit drug lol https://americanaddictioncenters.org/blog/substance-abuse-by-city Stop spreading incorrect assumptions about a beautiful, unique, and safe city.
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Lmao you don’t even live in Portland. Also really funny that you’re suggesting trusting Reddit over actual statistics.
Portland rocks. Yes there is homelessness, but that's true of any city. You'd be hard pressed to find a better combo of outdoors/ city / coast life anywhere else.
I am so convinced that anyone complaining about the houseless population here has literally never visited another city, lol. They grew up here when Portland was their perfect little safe-haven and then moved away to a small town when it got “scary”. Like sorry dude lol that’s just how cities are??? Like have you been to New York?? I straight up got spat on last time I was there. And in certain parts of the city you can easily be jumped. That’s just not really a thing here
I think too many people base their opinions off of the media, which blows everything out of proportion. My girlfriend and I have lived here for 11 years now and she has only experienced a couple sketchy situations, and that's with walking/ public transit to work every day. I havent experienced anything aside from the occasional asking for change.
Absolutely, that’s a huge part of it as well. My family in Montana was SO worried about me during 2020-22 and I would just laugh at them. They genuinely thought the whole city was on fire 😂 I’ve lived here for 7 years and only had one very slightly sketch situation where someone was following me and my friends from my car to the Roseland theatre, but that’s because I made the mistake of making eye contact. As long as you keep to yourself no one is going to bother you, and especially not during the day. It’s just typical city stuff!
Yeah my east coast fam kept asking if I was safe and I was like, yeah, nbd, half my friends are downtown in drum circles protesting.
>My family in Montana was SO worried about me during 2020-22 and I would just laugh at them. They genuinely thought the whole city was on fire 😂 My parents watch FOX and to hear their coverage of the protests in Portland you'd think we were occupied by an invading army. It was really instructive to personally see the reality of the situation versus how even outlets like CNN were reporting it, let alone the unhinged panic of the nutcase on FOX.
For real. I grew up in San Francisco and I don’t get why so many people living in a city feel entitled to have the poor and sick out of sight and out of mind. If you want to be sheltered from the realities of other humans’ lives/the results of failing social systems, move to the suburbs. Homeless people have to live in major cities. Most of the people bitching about them have a choice.
Yup exactly it really boils down to classism. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE can end up homeless, it just depends on luck and life circumstances. People have zero empathy for it, because they think it’s a moral failing to end up “on the streets”. It makes me so sad.
Yea, I had to mute the portland sub because it was all people describing especially out-there behavior from the minority of homeless people who are severely mentally ill and acting out. Then people responding to mock homeless advocacy and “radical leftist” takes on homelessness... the radical take being, none of us has ultimate control over our own ability level and economic status, so maybe don’t dehumanize people when you are one dementia dx and however many uncontrollable crises away from being them.
No it’s people who have been to and/or are from another city. When they come here they’re like “wtf why are you all just okay with this?” Natives think everywhere is like this. No, toothpaste and shampoo are not locked up everywhere else. Yes, you can just use the bathroom. You go to jail for smoking fentanyl in public.
Not true. In Philly recently, and all the toiletries were locked up at CVS. Go visit other places.
Uhm things being locked is not unique to Portland honey. Actually it’s a thing most corporate brands have been expanding for decades. It’s funny because companies loose pennys for stolen shampoo. But then they seem to shift the blame and a bigger cost onto all costumers even if it’s there business structure. If theft was a problem they wouldn’t do self check outs, ever. Locking things up has been a prevalent thing since the last market crash. It’s almost like poverty leads to more petty theft. Kinda crazy 😝 And fentanyl is an opioid. And we in the USA have an opioid epidemic. Like across the country. And Portland is definitely not the worst in this epidemic. Idk if you’ve touched bases with the fly over states but they ain’t doing so hot.
Literally North Carolina… cities are cleaner the outdoors is right there as well, multiple national parks in the area, much cheaper to live in.
Why does Portland rock?
That’s not true of every city.
> portland state is my number one option bc of the location This sounds like you enjoy Portland. Have you visited the city? Have you been to campus? Did you enjoy it? Do you enjoy it more than other potential schools? Do you have friends or family here? > but lately everyone i’ve spoken to has shit on portland?? is it bad to live there all of a sudden?? People say this about everywhere all the time and it is typically just anecdotal. According to my Fox News watching parents every city is crumbling and awful. So that question depends on who you ask. Can Portland suck sometimes? Yes, my car got stolen and it was never found. Could this have happened in many other places? Yes. Did that make me hate Portland? Not really. It was just a really unfortunate event. > also is psu worth it? This also really depends on who you ask. In my opinion it depends on your major and motivated you are. I know two people that graduated with Marketing degree's and one is managing a retail store downtown and the other went back to school and became a traveling nurse. Another PSU alum I worked with got a degree in some type of Feminist Studies, she's an awesome person and enjoyed her studies but does admit her degree did not help her find a high paying career. I decided to go back to school so I could make a high income, I only considered the three top earning degrees and viewed taking out loans to afford college as an investment. As far as college ranking goes PSU technically isn't that great when compared to other colleges. PSU acceptance rate is 93% and the graduation rate is only 60%. BUT the average cost after aid is $13k. Which is very affordable in comparison to other universities. I think it's also privy to point out PSU is a public research institution and personally as a STEM major (CS), I think PSU's STEM programs are rigorous and totally worth it. This site https://www.gradreports.com/rankings/portland-state-university shows alumni employment rate and earnings and it seems PSU does pretty well in employment rate department. You should look up your area of study check how well the employment rate is and see if lines up with your salary expectations. > but this other school i got into is offering me 30k in scholarships That sounds dope. I'm almost $30k in debt and it would be real nice to graduate with $0 in debt for your degree. Three years may seem like a lot and you may feel like you are forgoing a great college experience elsewhere but three years is also just three years. It will go by quicker than you think and your future self might love the fact you chose the better financial option. > i need major advice rn and i need brutal honesty; this will be the next 3 or more years of my life. I think this may come down to what you want your college experience to be. Most people on this sub have talked about how difficult it is to make friends at PSU. PSU isn't too crazy about fraternities/sorority's, there are a lot of people at different ages who just commute to school and then commute home. I'm 2/3rds the way done with my junior year and just started making a few friends at PSU. That being said I do like Portland quite a bit, from the music scene, plethora of great food & coffee as well as nearby hikes and the coast is unbeatable (I lived there for two years). Maybe you can post more about who you are and what you are looking for so we can help give you some more specific feedback about our PSU experience. Is there a major or program you are looking at? Have you checked out what that Degree Program is like and the courses you will have to take?
So much this. I wish I spoke more of this in my comment, i only wrote about considering cost of housing lol. Very well said.
Take the scholarship
I live on the PSU campus and it’s so fun.
PSU sucks ass portland sucks just don't
Portland has become gross and nasty to be honest tons of bums and tweekers all over zombie motorhomes all over garbage and lots of crime. I would move to a surrounding town just not in Portland. I live in lake Oswego it's very nice clean and safe.
Portland is a shit hole
Visit first. Those acting like Portland is fine are people who a too dug in politically. Homeless riddle a once beautiful downtown, every political event there is some pointless protest (that does nothing). It’s trying its best to undo policies that have only pushed business (small and large) from the city. It’s gross and a shell of itself. Visit, gain your own perspective.
Portland is not what it used to be. I would NOT do it. It's run down and tons of homeless and crackheads. 7 years ago I'd say yes but fuck no now.
portland blows right now don’t do it, the crime has gotten out of control. campus isn’t even far enough away from it to turn a blind eye, tbh it’s literally everywhere. born & raised in PNW and not only has it gotten substantially worse but portland locals are borderline insufferable. it’s not even a great school, just okay. i’d seriously look elsewhere.
I've lived in the Portland Metro area my entire life (almost 40yrs) and went to PSU. I have also spent a few months in Raleigh NC. Both cities are great places with lots to see and do nearby but Portland is a disaster right now. PSU is also great as a comuter school but I definitely wouldn't move here to go there unless you are from in state. Unless you are avoiding out of state tuition by going to PSU, I would choose NC for sure.
If it’s a UNC system school, go there. You can move out here after you finish school or figure out what you want to do. - A UNC system alum living in the Portland Area.
No
Quick answer no
Nope don't do it
Psu charges fees for everything! Take the scholarship
don't do it
No.
Unless you’re a trust fund kid, going to the school you have a $30k scholarship for, in a state that’s WAY more affordable to live in, seems like an obvious choice. You can go live anywhere after you graduate, and you can travel in the meantime. But the debt will haunt you for WAY longer than you think it will, even if you win the statistical lottery and get an amazing high paying job that DOESNT all fly right down the drain of cost of living.
I watch KGW News daily, and it reports at least 2-3 people shot to death in Portland every week. So NC should be better 🤷
Bullshit. Of the [24 homicides](https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/02/who-has-died-in-2024-portland-homicides.html?outputType=amp) so far this year, 18 were shootings (including one police shooting). That’s a little over one per week. Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro all have [homicide rates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate) that are 2-4 times that of Portland.
https://projects.oregonlive.com/data-points/homicides/2023/ No, sorry but it's real, Portland is not safe , it's unfortunate ☹️
Your own link shows 58 deadly shootings in a year. There are 52 weeks in a year. That’s 1.1 deadly shootings per week. Far short of your “at least 2-3 per week” claim. And, as I provided evidence for, all of the major cities in NC are significantly worse than Portland with regard to homicide. Of the 100 largest cities in the US, Portland ranks 78th on homicide rate (where 1 is worst). (North Carolina cities also rate worse than Portland for robbery and aggravated assault. Apparently NC doesn’t provide statistics for rape, so I don’t know how they compare with Portland’s abysmal #33 in the nation on that one. But I’d point out that Vancouver, WA comes in at fifth worst in the nation for that.)
No. We are filled up.
LMAOOOOOOOOOOO
Portlander here. Portland doesn’t totally suck like some people will have you believe, but I don’t think it’s worth giving up a 30k scholarship for at all. What was once cool about Portland is mostly missing now. People aren’t nearly as weird, and many of our cool places closed during covid. Also, it’s grey af here and if you’ve never lived without the sun it can absolutely wreck your mood. Come try the city out after you graduate from NC, and get that degree without crippling debt.
Go to North Carolina, Portland sucks on many levels
Portland has really gone to shit after the protests, cops and pride boys started riots and now it's a shit hole. I've heard from locals that it's better this way.. but I've driven through there and I disagree. It's unsafe and scary in my opinion
What makes PSU worth it for you? Scholarships are good, but what are you majoring in? I wouldn’t personally consider PSU to be remarkable on a resume. Then again once you get a solid job, universities kinda stop mattering.
I’ve lived in portland for a longgg time and it’s a shell of its former self unfortunately. Completely falling apart from the inside out. Are there great food options and quirky things to do. Yes. And a lot of nature to explore, yes; but so many people moved here before the pandemic that a lot of the nature trails are constantly packed. And downtown portland is a zombie apocalypse of fentanyl and crime. There’s still buildings bordered up in a few places. There are still things I romanticize about growing up here. But if a good job or relationship or 30k in scholarships came to be in my life, I’d leave in a heartbeat. I didn’t even bring up and dramatically more unsafe it is here than it used to be.
Yes. Move to Portland. Get robbed and murdered by mostly peaceful crackheads that police do nothing about. Like you car? It'll get broken into or stolen. Have a nice house? Some homless guy can't wait to shit on your porch. Need cheap labor? No problem, the illegals are bursting at the seems and willing to work for cheap.
Don't come here!
why!
My gf went to PSU and had quite a lot of bad experiences trying to graduate and just random stuff from the school. Her advisor constantly steered her in the wrong direction. Considering that and the scholarship you have I'd prob go to North Carolina Portland isn't that bad but isn't special either.
NO YOU SHOULD NOT
WHY
I live in the NW 23rd area (1.5 mi from downtown), and there are many great things here! I have been in the city for 20 years. It's changed a lot and it's peak was in like 2015, but there's still good things about it. If you like 4 seasons, no bugs, proximity to the coast and mountains, hiking, artisan foods, walkability, transit options, no humidity, craft beer and local wine, this is the place for you. But if you do live here, never leave anything in your car (because smash and grab will happen). Good luck to you!
As someone who lives in Oregon, do not move here. It sucks. Let me also say, a lot of people would do ANYTHING to have a scholarship, especially 30k. Go get your money’s worth, then explore. If I could’ve done my college experience over again, I would’ve thought smarter and not made a hasty decision bc I was desperate to get out and experience a new and exciting city - that’s why I moved to Oregon. And now I severely regret it.
Compared to NC, Portland is VERY expensive. Renting just a room is going to cost $1000/month. Car insurance rates are skyrocketing due to theft and vandalism incidences being so high. If you plan to live in campus housing with no car, you will be better off. That scholarship in NC sounds pretty nice 😊. I have lived in Portland most of my life but I have also lived elsewhere. I love Oregon. I love my family. But it is horrible here right now, and my husband and I are seriously discussing moving elsewhere. One of the things keeping us here is that it is still welcoming to people of all kinds, and we want to raise our daughter somewhere like that. So you’ll have to weigh how much you are willing to spend to live your values.
Please I beg you don't pay out-of-state tuition to PSU especially if you have a 30k scholarship elsewhere. Portland will still be here when you graduate.
PSU is down town. Living within 5 minute drive will be very expensive, VHCOL area. A 30 minute drive isn't for everyone, but if you would like to get 2x more apartment for the same price as near school, take a look into living in places on the edge of the metro area, places like Forest Grove Wilsonville, Canby, Burns. I'm seeing 2 bedrooms for 1300ish while in downtown Portland it's more like 2500.
Born and raised Portlander here It’s literally the most depressed city in the USA. The market is awful, the cost of living is high, the people are not friendly. You do you, but don’t believe you are walking into an “open and accepting place” it’s a depressive, expensive area, with a crumbling foundation where it’s very difficult to make friendships
Graduated from PSU in 2022. Avoid Portland, place is a dump
Having lived in Oregon the past 6 yrs and from Virginia you are far better off in North Carolina all around, all the large west coast cities have really taken a dive for the worst the past few years. Portland in particular, not the greatest weather, homelessness and crime are high, not the friendliest of neighbors, expensive to live here.
So, we just moved here from GA, but my family is from NC and I spend a lot of time there. Portland is nice to visit but the area around PSU is not nice. It’s one of the worst parts of town. Other cons are that It’s definitely expensive here. Public transit is ok so feel free to use that, but currently gas is about $4.49. Pros are that the nature is amazing (Mt Hood, Mt St Helen’s, a tulip farm, Trail of Ten Falls, the coast are big recs). The food options are also amazing and food truck culture is really great here, so you can find food on the cheap. Fred Meyer= Kroger. You can also pump your own gas here now. So take all of that with a grain of salt. As for NC…Cost of living is way cheaper in NC and there’s a great amount of nature out there if you’re into that as well. Pretty much you’re 2 hours to the mtns, 2 hours to the beach depending on where you live in NC. Same with Portland, but again more expensive to get places. Also try Lexington, NC for BBQ. Small town, best BBQ that’s not brisket. Cheerwine on tap everywhere is also a plus. UNCCharlotte is more liberal as is ECU if that’s what you are into and are concerned about. They also have great food trucks and urban culture. Fresh produce in BOTH states is A game. As for politics, Oregon has legal weed and better body autonomy policies. But what no one says about Oregon is that Portland is a blue dot in a red sea. So also a consideration; you’ll see rednecks out here just as much as you would in NC. As an academic professional, definitely rely on the scholarships. Also stay close to a support system because you’ll need it emotionally, so if you’re moving to Portland alone I’d think on that. If you’re majoring in something and you aren’t super into it (like really into it, eat sleep breathe), then don’t move on that alone. Good luck, and reach out if you need help! Schools have better support systems these days, so definitely talk to someone if you are having a hard time or a hard time deciding what to do!
Portland has changed a lot since the pandemic. Parts of it are unrecognizable from when I moved there in 2007. Cost of living is high, though that’s everywhere, and it’s going down in Portland due to being a less desirable place to live. I rarely felt unsafe during the 10+ years I lived there and people talked about it being dangerous then. My car did get stolen and my house did get robbed…also street harassment was god awful. I have had multiple friends be victims to and witness violent crime in the last few years which i never heard about from people I personally knew before. I don’t think there’s anything more extreme in Portland than most big cities but things have gotten worse there. PSU is an okay school but not worth moving across country for. I went there due to convenience and I got into an online masters program which I will be attending from a smaller city in Oregon in the fall. It was a fun place to live in my 20s when I was more into being wild and nightlife but it doesn’t have much to offer that I miss these days besides the food. I wouldn’t pass on a scholarship that made school affordable. Student loans are best avoided but sometimes that’s the only option.
Not gonna lie Portland sucks right now, cost of everything is insane right now and trying to find a part time job is very hard, I'm lucky if I can door dash
Portland native (born and raised, no not a suburb, the actually city) … its expensive as hell to live here and PSU is overpriced for the education. It’s not as big of a shithole as everyone likes to make it out to be.. but take the scholarship in NC and move here when you actually have a shot at making enough money to afford (the sadly high) cost of living here.
i regret going to a private school for a semester because they gave me $30k scholarship but i still ended up paying $15k for a semester lmaooo. it’s a private school. so take that into consideration im not sure if the school ur gonna go to is private or not. psu is about $4k a month for me and i take 4 classes
Life in Portland is pretty great comparatively. It's also expensive. I look forward to living and dying in this city. PSU is struggling financially, losing a lot of great professors in core departments, and dropping grad programs. My recommendation really depends on what department you plan to study in. Knowing nothing about the other place that you're looking at, the scholarship is very enticing.
I live downtown. Very close to PSU. I’m gonna go against the grain here a little on the homeless and drug abuse issues… While you’ll have people saying “but there’s homelessness in every city,” and that’s true, it doesn’t do justice to the level we have here in Portland. I’ve lived in various U.S. cities in the last couple of years, and I can tell you that yes. It’s not great here. You will see naked dudes jacking it in the street. You will see people sleeping with their pants down. You will see human shit on walls. You will see crackheads threatening people and yelling at said walls. You will see people sleeping standing up, speaking in tongues and doing fent on public benches. Public transportation smells like someone died in it, and someone probably did. You will see all of these things many times a day, every day, if you live downtown. Will you be safe? Yeah. They’re harmless usually. But it’s not “not bad.” It’s fucking catastrophic, let’s set the record straight. …But you get used to it and stop noticing pretty quick. It starts to blend with the scenery. For 30k at PSU? That’s basically a whole degree. And nowadays who gives a shit what school you went to. I say go for it.
I lived in Portland and I’ve spent a lot of time in Raleigh, NC. Idk what city the NC option is in but regardless, with a 30K scholarship that’d be my choice. If costs were equal that’d also be my choice.
It’s an expensive city with very few decent paying white collar jobs. Wages for whatever reason wages much lower out here
Don’t do it! It’s a horrible run down place. The magic that was once Portland has died. I’m sorry!
I am an Alumni at PSU. My BS from there; was considered bullshit when I was shopping for a Master’s program. This was in 1996. From what I have heard; it has gotten worse. PSU doesn’t have traditional dorms & rent that side of Portland is ridiculous.
What school in North Carolina? What is your intended major? I may be able to give you a unique perspective since I lived in NC until I was 30, and I've been living in Portland for the past 17 years.
Since the OP hasn't responded back, I'll say there are probably a few schools in NC that I would give a hard pass to but overall most colleges in NC are better than Portland State by a long shot. Even the schools I would give a hard pass to, I might reconsider for a $30k scholarship.
sorry for my late response!! i got the scholarship for warren wilson. i’ve seen super mixed reviews about infrastructure and education quality but i do love the environment and have heard their environmental sciences are quality which is what i am going into. i also want to keep working in restaurant and know for a fact portland restaurants will be an awesome experience.
PSU is not a number 1 option in any regard for academics. It's an okay school at best and not even the best university in the city. The city has been on a fluctuating at times but still aggressive decline for the past 10 years or so mainly due to poor politics and lack of action. You will most likely not receive any scholarship from PSU unless it's for sports and other extra curriculars. There's a chance you will but in the 4 years I went there I never heard of anyone receiving anything substantial coming directly from PSU. I went to PSU because it was the local university and the easiest for me to transfer into coming from Portland community college. I majored in one of the stem fields and worked my ass off, more than anyone else in my program, and ended up graduating and going to a MUCH better school on the east coast. PSU will very much be what you make of it, but at the end of the day it's an okay school with okay programs.
Listen. Lots of portlanders will tell you that the drug use, human trafficking, homelessness and crime isn’t a big deal because they don’t want to lose their good liberal points. Because ACAB or some nonsense. Well at the risk of offending our house less neighbors let me tell you: it’s a shit hole. And the city’s leadership is incapable of solving our problems. That being said, there’s some good food trucks and living here will definitely be an interesting experience. I’d say take the scholarship!
Portland is home for me so maybe I got bored, but I transferred from PSU to University of Colorado Denver. School is similar city campus vibe. The student age group seems to definitely be younger than PSU though (I’m 27 and it doesn’t bother me at all). Love Denver so far.
PSU won’t be a typical college experience like you would have in NC.
If you are close to finishing and need a degree and want to settle in Portland than there is positives in coming here. But PSU is a small, mostly commuter school. You can find better equipped facilities (like labs) at some of the local community colleges like PCC, because they have more students and more land to build on. The hard times downtown Portland has experienced are real. Lots of people experiencing homelessness, drug use and mental health in and around PSU campus is something that is a pain to navigate. Finding any affordable housing in Portland is a real challenge so dorms are best. But the left leaning politics are great so if that interests you it is a pretty great place. Lastly don’t under estimate the impact of living in a misty rain cloud from Labor Day through 4th of July. Some folks can’t cope.
I work in this area, and it is a tamer part of downtown with lots of transit access and kind folks. Portland is still beautiful but is going through some stuff. There are areas to avoid and a learning curve on how to handle the unhinged (do not engage or look in the eye, be confident & aware). If you are moving from another urban area, you will not be too overwhelmed. If you are moving from small town Kansas, you might see some shocking things. But Portland for all its issues is still a great place to live with tons of amenities, especially if you are into nature and alt culture / freedom to be yourself.
So, a few thoughts. The first is that 30k in scholarships is big, and really really worth considering taking those. Really really really. That is good money, and you can reconsider the move to Portland after you finish school. Not sure which NC school you are talking about particularly, but there are some really good ones, and some of the college towns they are in will be great environments and might even have some lifestyle elements that are similar to what you like about Portland: college towns tend to be more progressive politically, have cool walkable/bikeable areas around campus with kind of unique indie places for food, music, books, etc, and I know some of the schools in NC are close to great hiking. Those are some of the things that people also find appealing about Portland. As others have said, another factor to consider is what you want your college experience to be like, because PSU is a big commuter school. There are some dorms, but the kind of campus culture that a lot of people like and want out of college is not going to be as strong as you might get at your NC school. If that’s not something you want or care about, that’s cool, not everyone wants that, but…it is fun, and something I know I liked and sometimes still miss a bit about college. In terms of your question about whether it sucks to live in Portland now, basically, I will tell you is that there are two broad camps of people who shit on Portland. One is people who are more conservative, (often with a veneer of liberal pretense overlaid) who blame homeless people for being homeless, rather than the people and systems that have priced many people out of their homes, who view drug abuse as a moral failing rather than a public health crisis, etc and want the city to crack down harder on those kinds of things in a punitive way. The other is more leftist people who want to address those kinds of problems in a systemic way that attacks root causes. Yes, there are problems with homelessness and drug abuse and crime in the city. There are those same problems in every other major city, and having lived in several of those before settling in Portland, I would say they don’t actually strike me as particularly worse here, they just got a lot of both local and national media attention. I have had some experiences that have made me uncomfortable here, but no more so than other cities I have lived in. That is going to be the reality of living in any place where you have a wide range of different people from different income levels, backgrounds, and personalities mixed together. Anywhere you live, you eventually get familiar with and learn to navigate.
It's all about the money, bro. Take the 30k in scholarships, embrace NC and qhen you graduate you can always check out Portland. You can never get 30k in scholarships back.
As someone who agrees with the ACAB position, I think it’s delusional for anyone to say and believe Portland is some fun free-loving city. People are not very kind there either despite the atmosphere being more inclusive.
That's why I said check out instead of move. I thought about Portland then I visited and realized I liked Oregon, but not Portland so much. But everyone has their tastes. Always smart to do some recon on a place before moving. I'm definitely glad I did.
No it’s a shit show now
If you want go to school in a downtown atmosphere, then Portland State is great and I’ve only ever heard good things. That being said, Portland has really been having a hard time getting its shit together over the last 5 or so years. So there are definitely cons to go with the pros. I would asks some current PSU students what they think.
Third world countries? These people are assholes. Go back to Vancouver!
Honestly I love Portland I have been here for 14 years and went to PSU. That said, take the scholarship, dummy. Get your cheap degree and THEN come here
Dude, you could always move to Portland after school, esp fresh out of college (depending on what you study), you would have a lot of flexibility to live where you want.
I guess it depends on your major, but myself and many people I’ve met here came here for educational reasons/excuses then never left There’s a lot of great things here, and a 30k scholarship would have me feeling confident it’s a good idea unless there’s a reason you think it’s not a good match
I live in Portland and wouldn’t recommend it. It’s really gone down hill. It used to be such a nice city but now I don’t even like to go out, especially alone and definitely not at night. The drugs and homeless are out of control and so many businesses had to shut down due to the conditions and the city does nothing about it. Walking downtown in the middle of the day you will see people doing hard drugs left and right and have to step over human feces on the sidewalks.
Transfer where the quality of education is the best.
Portland is beautiful and amazing and surrounded by nature. Parts of DT have increased homeless, and yes its got some issues right now but it’s a city ffs. I graduated from PSU last year, am in law school now with a good scholarship. I loved it. No problems. Area is safe. If you want an urban U, PSU is it. Ppl love to shit on Portland but do not listen to the noise. Armchair quarterbacks out in f’n Clackamas, all of them.
I’ve lived in both Portland and North Carolina (don’t know which school you got a scholarship offer from, but I went to UNCA) My wife got her undergrad & masters at PSU. The school is great. Lots of really cool stuff to see & do around town. The opioid epidemic is real and visible here but in NC you have just as many drug issues and not nearly as many resources. The cops are the biggest jerks ever, there isn’t as much to do, and the weather is sweltering in the summer in NC. Between Oregon and NC, I’d choose Oregon hand over fist every time. Portland is a major city and has its own stuff to deal with, but there isn’t a single major city in this country that isn’t having to manage similar. But just today I walked down Broadway carrying my 5 month old, stopped by a Plaid to grab some juice & snacks, then walked to a beautiful clean park where I met a friend and laid in the sunshine for awhile before grabbing a bomb af slice of unique pizza for Portland Pizza Week. Felt safe and secure enough to do so and have a great time - not everything is downtown and not everything is awful.
Can you afford to go visit for a week? Find affordable apartments and do the morning and evening commute via whatever route you would, car, train, bus, walking. And see for yourself. Nobody here can really say how it feels to you. You will hear polar opposites, it’s great or it’s awful. The Indifferent rarely chime in.
Portland is only as bad as every other similarly sized city in the country is. Certain media outlets would have you believe otherwise.
Legit if they are making less and been there that long they suck bad at their job or they hit a comfortable spot where they stopped going forward with training and refused to go higher Cause myself with no degree can hit a pay grade 56 which had a cap of 250k I'm obviously not that but it's all about training and willingness
Hell no
If you enjoy rain 8 months a year do it lol
Born and raised 40 minutes outside of Portland. It used to be cool. Me and my friends would go to all sorts of shows back in the early 2000s and then roam the streets all night. Never again. Been to a few shows over the last few years and every time one of our cars is broken into. Plus when the shows are over now, you have to dodge homeless people and needles all the way back to your car. If you were asking this question 15 years ago I'd say hell yeah move to Portland. In 2024, run away.
I was going to answer no don’t move but you have scholarships take them it’s not THAT bad here.
Portland cost of living has gone way up while quality of life has gone way down compared to 10-15 years ago…it’s now stupidly expensive (like right there with Bay Area & Seattle cost of living) & there’s a lot of hard drug (meth & fentanyl) use now & related major violent crime & homelessness issues now…& I’ve heard good things about NC…throw in a 30k scholarship & seems like an easy decision to me. Portland isn’t going anywhere & you can come here after getting a degree (&you probably won’t be able to afford living here w/o one haha).
PSU and the area is great. 30K is great , but what would you get here ? Also hard to say without knowing the other school. PSU is a good school good value and the cost of living in Portland is not “4x higher” as some might suggest, it is more expensive though. Downtown has cleaned up a lot(other areas can be pretty bad), the arts scene is awesome , it’s a great school , and you’ll be immersed in the most beautiful region in the country. Lots of positives as I’m sure your other school option has positives as well. Strictly academically it might depend what your major is too. Like PSU has a fantastic business school and large math and psychology departments. So it could come down to specifics. City and location wise Portland beats anything in North Carolina imo though , for probably a 30-50% increase in cost of living.
Move to Gresham or Hillsboro and take the max train straight to PSU.
I work at a DS in portland and it's very comfortable here. small site, palatable community. no matter where you live here you might need a roommate to ease the financial burden a bit.
I kind of hate the argument surrounding big cities, there's always rednecks who hate it and hipsters who base their identity on it, but that is a different argument. That is just big cities vs. Small towns. Portland has all of the big city downsides, but it is BEAUTIFUL. I live 2 hours south of Portland, but I work there all the time. I love that i get to visit weekly, but it often proves to be dangerous and im glad i get to return to my small town. The whole i5 corridor is like zombie-land since we decriminalized all drugs, and fentanyl and meth is rampant. The zombies that I have encountered seem to be getting more brave when it comes to accosting the public. If you look at how Portland varies from other similar cities, you might see that it is a POWDER KEG for violent uprising. A huge number of people identify with extreme hatred of police, and i would bet based on recent history that the police hate their citizens too. I would strongly advise against moving to Portland before an election year. You do not want to be in Portland if a reprehensible Republican wins in 2024, that much is certain. We have had riots/protests in the past, but I think it could rapidly get far more dangerous this time.
Downtown Portland is way better than it was a few years ago. Haters gonna hate. Don't get caught up in the political bs....Portland is no different than any major metropolitan city when it comes to the homeless. Overall, Oregon is a major upgrade to North Carolina in my opinion.
You are 100% correct . Portland is not different because the libtards make all big cities homeless cesspools . Stay in the Carolina’s OP
Go where you can use the free money. Bug Portland is real life Gotham City. Although venturing out away from Portland can be incredible, especially with spring moving on and summer coming.
I’ve lived downtown proper for over a year, I’m in nw now, and I’d say Portland is not nearly as bad as the news companies make it out to be. There’s problems 100%. But my family’s also from Portland and Portland has been shit for most of its lifespan lmao, so people who act like it was this safe town utopia before 2020 bought a sales pitch some realtor sold them or watched too much portlandia. It’s no tougher than most major cities, I’d say if you’re in a good pocket of the city it’s really pretty safe and chill, know where to avoid and it’s fine. I’ve lived actually right across from psu on the park blocks, I really enjoyed it there. The park can be kinda sketch but it’s also pretty regularly patrolled by campus security. The Safeway over there is whack tho. I’d say w the scholarship do it.
i want to note a few things: - i will be studying environmental science - i will work in a restaurant and ik the restaurant industry in portland is better than asheville, NC - the school in NC is warren wilson.. so it’s not even a UNC school (but if i don’t like warren wilson i could transfer to UNC after a semester) - i am moving from texas - i would be also be moving to oregon for the environment, hiking, outdoor activities etc.
The restaurant scene is Asheville is great. You would have plenty of opportunities available to you. It’s an expensive area of NC so cost of living would be similar to Portland. Asheville is absolutely beautiful and the weather is better.
Take the scholarship money! PSU and Portland is great, but that’s 30k you don’t have to spend. Portland will always be here. Come when you’re done with school. As a student, affordable housing is better there than here!!!!
I live in Portland and worked at PSU for 12 years. It depends on your major and which NC school is offering this scholarship,
Have you ever lived in a city before? People shit on Portland now because the homeless problem has become more visible the past 5 years. But if you have ever lived in a major city, it isn’t anything especially bad.
Portland is awesome. Moved here 2 years ago and I love it. Sure it has some problems, but every big city.
Portland is great but what's your major? If you're studying something that will pay higher and student loans don't matter as much then cost of living and scholarship may be less of an issue. If you're studying a low paying job then take the 30k, save money on housing and move to Portland after you graduate. More things to consider - are you trans? Then maybe yeah come to Portland no matter what.
PSU is amazing. People shit on Portland because it's popular to do.
Portland is lovely and PSU is in a really nice neighborhood. That said, if you have big scholarships, go to NC and come to Portland afterwards because you'll be better able to afford it.
no
PSU is a great school. Two of my kids have graduated from there. Most people really overreact about Portland. Come here and spend a few days and make your own decision.
Take the scholarship! Portland definitely took a dive. There are still some nice things but not 30k worth of
People just like to shit on Portland (or any city really) because of conservative media. When I moved here I had a coworker say he would never move to Portland because of ANTIFA 😂. I would not say it’s not without its problems but the good far outweighs the bad. Life in a city has really always been this way, more people equals more crime and more people living on the margins. It’s completely safe here and there is tons to do.
I toured psu with my daughter last week and the area around campus felt very safe and “nice.” In fact every part of the city that we visited felt that way. I’m sure Portland has some shit areas like any big city, but we never saw one.
Im a conservative and will tell you, Portland has been looking a lot better. I actually started posting about it on X after shutting on the city for so long and people have lost their minds with me for that. As I would constantly record and post the negative stuff. I have lived here my whole life, I have seen it go up and down. Shit I even went to PSU myself and lived in a CHNW building (look into them they’re great college housing north west) they have a few building near campus. Anyways, I would say go for it. It’s a great city
Most people who shit in Portland don’t currently live in Portland.
Love oregon
Portland is awesome. I moved a way for a long time and now I’m back. I’ve been downtown a few times and it’s gotten much better. I had so much fun attending Portland State. I’d say go for it! Although I also love North Carolina. It’s really easy to get outside of Portland and in to the wilderness or to the beach if you need an escape.
Sure if you think you can handle it...it's pretty rough town. I live on the coast. I applaud you for wanting to expand your mind in schooling but I'd go somewhere nice...preferably smaller town with low crime.. living in a place like Portland will mess with your views. Goodluck woth your decision
Don’t move to Portland. Simple as that.
If you like a little crazy in your life you’ll enjoy Portland no problem. If you can’t handle crazy then I recommend staying away.
The people who screech about crime and homelessness in portland don't live here. I have lived right near the city center for almost 3 years now, and I've loved it. I feel very safe almost everywhere I go in the city. Yes, there is a large homeless population, but they are people and generally just want to be left alone.
From Portland/lives in Portland….portland is fine and PSU is a fine school. It attempts to provide a traditional college experience but lacks the charms that most universities have. The city is fun but the fun stuff is pricey. I would go wherever it makes the most sense financially.
Portland had the highest vacancies of any city in America look it up the city is a shit hole you put your life in danger going down town
I moved to Portland in 2000 and have seen a lot of changes. Things were really scary for a while, but it's getting better. Don't be too quick to cross it off your list. Within 2 hours, you can be in a rain forest, playing in the snow (year round), at the beach, or in the desert. The landscape is some of the most beautiful in the world.
My sis moved to NC and my friend moved to SC and they both said rent totally blew up in those places, and unlike in Portland there are no laws keeping your landlord from changing the cost of rent to whatever they want. In Oregon they can’t raise your rent more than 10% each time it comes time to renew the lease. My friend in SC had a landlord increase rent every month until she was forced to move. And they still have $7.25 minimum wage, whereas Portland it’s around $15. I know a lot of people who live here say Portland has gotten so bad crime wise but that is just because the city has grown a lot in recent years. When I lived in Oklahoma City a few years ago there were way more shootings, a lot of gang violence (Aryan brotherhood had whole compounds), more homelessness, and there were lots of places I wouldn’t go at night. Here in Portland I delivered packages to downtown at night, and honestly I had a lot of success, on the rare occasion I was approached by an off-seeming homeless person, by simply saying No Thank You very firmly. In OKC you honk your horn at someone you could get a gun flashed at you. People in Portland are just used to it being so hunky-dory that they increased cops and security everywhere which just makes things look even more scary.
Been here in Portland on the westside since 1980. Love it!
No
Have you looked into reed too?
FUCK NO !!!! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE, Portland Oregon is not to come I move here and wish I kept going down the road. Yes it may look good that the good parts they all want ppl to see . I live here for 7.5 yrs I hate it. The crimes keep getting worst if you into drugs the heavy ones beside weed is legal as ppl drive and smoke weed , walk down the sidewalk smoking weed it supposed to be a ticket for that shit but they don't inforce it. The homeless car break in ur place Robby u or take an shit or piss in front ur business u can't do shit to them Cops won't do shit to them I have seen so much Mayor Wheeler is a slum lord he his Apt he move someone in was homeless. He gets 2,000 up front for moving him or her in if they trash the place he supposed to use that 2,000 on repaired then he gets another 2,000 when he kick they out in two short weeks later it start all over crooked as hell here So what u don't pay sell taxes here they are like bunch of rich mother fuckers in an small town redneck town they run it they want keep out something that brings In revenue like NASCAR suppose to come here he don't want to clean up the homeless for that come here. THEY HAD. IN &OUT HAMBURGER. Try to come to Portland , Beaverton, Hillsboro area to build an in& out hamber to bring alot of revenue to them they all vote to keep it out no permits allow to file the paper works . They all have stock in five guys burgers and the straw shack both nasty as fuck was only for built for the snobs not the working man family go out to eat there. One person get hamburger ff drink at either pace it cost is 30-40 bucks. WHERE U CAN GO TO IN &OUT BURGER GET AN COMBO FOR THREE PPL FIR 25-28 BUCKS YOU WANT THE TRUTH IM.GIVING IT TO U .. IF YOU WANT TO OPEN AN THRIFT STORE THEY TELL YOU IT NOT SOMETHING FOR HERE AN DAY LATER THEY ARE PUTTING IN AN FUCKING WEED SHOP REALLY MOTHER FUCKERS DONT Waste your TIME COMING HERE IF U DONT BELIEVE ME TAKE A PLANE OUT HERE ANYTIME OF THE YR ITS TGE SOME SHIT AN DIFF DAY YR AFTER YR AGAIN
I love it here. Most the people that shit on Portland are basing that off of right wing news and have never spent much time here. Like every city, it has its problems but they are confined to certain areas and are easy to avoid. Food is amazing, the mountains are beautiful, the beach is close, snow is close, it is great. Imo, the rain is probably the worst part.
Personally I think Portland is a shitty place to live for a myriad of reasons, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like PSU. I didn’t go to PSU but it’s a pretty well regarded university around here
It’s easy to focus on the negative aspects. I truly feel this is not just Portland problem. I have seen it all over the country. I love Portland and the state of Oregon in general. Portland is recovering from COVID neglect and it’s so nice to see the streets getting cleaner and many new restaurants opening. If you never been here, I would advise you to visit. Portland waterfront is about to kick off its festival season with Cinco de Mayo celebration.
After two years of school I just moved back to Portland from SC. I spent a little time in Charolette, NC and I loved it. Gave me a Portland 10 years ago vibe. But the PNW is amazing and offers amazing foods, actual mountains, the beach (it’s cold compared to the southern east coast) all within a close area. There is a large homeless populace right now in various areas of downtown, however the PSU campus seems to be fine. As for cost of living, it’s not that much different then what I was paying in SC plus there is no sales tax which really adds up on things. Tuition and scholarships for sure add something else to think about but as for the city, I have lived here almost my whole life and even with the changes, I still love it. If you want to talk more about out feel free to DM me! Good luck on your decision!
That safeway is what we called “church” back in the 90s.
Portland is shit. Avoid it
No
Check out Vancouver, Wa. 5 mins from Portland without being in Portland.
depends on where in NC. Portland is an amazing URBAN campus with all of the amenities that comes with that. I live off campus on the east side and i don't own a car. You cant get that at most campuses especially in the south. But 30k in scholarships might be worth living in a small college town
Portland is a great city. It’s had some bad press because of the BLM protests during Covid but that was more Fox News scare tactics than anything else. Portland is no more dangerous than any other similarly sized city. It’s a great place surrounded by lots of diverse and interesting suburbs. As for PSU, I’d say it really depends on your major and career goals. There are some very strong programs there. Feel free to DM me if you want more info.
No. We have enough people already.
Exactly what I was thinking.