Arbor, the-bronx-ny

I had a great experience with Columbia Housing while a student there. I lived on Morningside Drive and had an apt. spacious enough that my best friend could come and stay with me. She even attended classes with me. They office was very flexible and the property very well maintained. Highly recommend if you plan to attend.

I've been a resident for over a year, and I've had a really disappointing experience with Columbia Residential's management. The elevator in my building is out of service for 3 months due to renovations, and I live on the second-to-last floor. When the outage began, Jennifer Santoro (Director, Asset Management) told me I would receive a 5% rent discount for the inconvenience — which is already a very small amount given the situation and considering that I'm paying for the elevator — and that she would also help me arrange secure bicycle storage. Neither of these commitments was followed through on. For over two months, I tried to get an update: near-daily emails and constant phone calls, with no response at all. The discount was never applied to my account. This is how a current resident who is paying in full for the service is treated. The lack of communication, unresponsiveness, and disregard for tenants' basic concerns is absolutely disappointing!

**COLUMBIA PLEASE DON'T HIDE OR DELETE MY REVIEW AGAIN** My previous review was hidden by Columbia University - If I could leave a 0 I would. I don't usually leave a review but I really had to for this crap. For anyone that is looking for "affordable housing" please don't even consider it. To start off, there are no photos provided before you move in, only floor plan, I asked for pictures and they said no. I did not know that there is no elevator and of course I chose the 6th floor. Which I cannot entirely blame them since I did not explicitly asked. My lease was not until 5/31 this year but since I already got into a vet school I no longer needed the pre-req that I was thinking about doing at Columbia University (I did not know until February since this is when vet schools typically offer admissions, so you really don't know your game plan). I am going to vet school in May so I wish to stay in the residential housing until I leave in April/ May. I get that the policy was I have to be full time student but it was only the matter of one month extension - and guess what, not approved, kept asking for help to several people, all they wanted was just to kick me out asap. I understand that it is a policy but I WAS A STUDENT PAYING EXPENSIVE TUITION AND ALL I ASKED WAS A MONTH/ TWO EXTENSION. Finally - not only I had to pay $1k for "breaking the lease" but also incurred me $7k extra to just find somewhere short term to live in New York City. The staff on this residential just have no empathy, they just really don't care about students - all they care was just if they collect your money (already so expensive) and do not give any xxx for your safety. I could provide a list of names here for everyone that is just absolutely horrible Packages problems - constantly got stolen. I cannot even recall any moment that my packages are not stolen. I eventually just gave up and send the packages to my friend's. Oh. on the last day, even my bubble wrap packages got stolen. The safety issue is absolutely horrible My apartment got broken in and almost got raped - and nobody cares including the police. The guy broke into my apartment at first and I had to yell to him and my cat was hissing at him, he backed out and he was waiting for me at the stairs. I live on the sixth floor and this is definitely targeted. I called the police and they blamed me for not locking the door properly and they don't want me to file a report.. it was eventually i wrote an angry email to state the safety of the students to the school that they urged the police to file a report. But even then, it didn't matter because it is not like they could catch the guy (too many incidents like this happened) They also used an old system of heater which was boiling water in the pipe inside the wall. My bed was next to the pipe and it spilled hot water when I was sleeping. I would say the only thing that is good for this place is the maintenance usually arrived very on time and had good manner (like fixing the hot pipe for me so that I don't get burnt alive). Honestly, just to conclude, this place is overcharging students who are already in so much student debt when we are Ivy League students. Please do not even consider. Please read all the reviews and do not choose this place

Been great so far, although yes you do not get to see your place before. But the place was spotless, shiny and brand new, and not to mention huge for lower rent than standard NYC apartment rentals! Thank you Columbia, despite the terrible waitlist game with the crashing website!

HORRIBLE... do not use this service. They have no sympathy for students, or your schedule. I was almost evicted mid semester because my living situation changed, and they could not guarantee they would house me even though I had a contract with them. I have lived in Columbia Residential housing for over a year and for the last two months of my lease my wifi no longer worked even though I bought two new routers as they suggested. I was told even though they provided my wifi for the 8 months prior, that they are not required to provide it and if it goes out it is then my problem to fix (all while during finals week). My heat was broken and remained unfixed for a week during winter. And even after all that they are raising the rent of my apartment by over 100 dollars. As I said, DO NOT USE this service, you are better off using Columbia's off campus housing market place or StreetEasy.