We hope the following information is helpful to you as you relocate to Madison. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the the NTP office or current graduate students.
Most graduate students live off-campus. An excellent bus system (graduate students receive a FREE bus pass!) and bike path system are available which make travel to campus, and around Madison, easy year-round.
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Housing
The majority of NTP students rent apartments/houses while a few decide to purchase a house. We have asked students for some feedback and suggestions on housing and their responses are below.
Renting:
Some of the average rent prices are below, please note these prices are the total price for a unit rented by one person, therefore if you have a roommate, your cost could be much lower, it really depends on location and amenities. It is certainly possible to find cheaper and more expensive places and if you’re ok with a studios or efficiencies you can also get housing pretty cheap. The most expensive utility is likely to be heat in the winter so if you can find a reasonable place with heat included that’s always a plus! Parking is also often not included especially in the downtown and near east side locations, it is sometimes available for an additional price or street parking is available though a city permit is needed (often still cheaper than paying for parking).
$800 per month for 1 bedroom
$970-$1100 per month for 2 bedrooms
$1100-$1500+ per month for 3 bedrooms+
Rental Companies:
Here are just a few of the management companies our students recommend, if you find a company that you’re unsure about feel free to pass the name our way and we can see if anyone has used them before. Quite a few people also use Craigslist and a website called Padmapper to narrow down the search. Madison Apartment Living is also a decent website that lists a lot of apartments and may be a good starting point.
Birwood
Carolina Apartments
JSM-one of the larger rental companies that is common downtown.
McBride Companies-their rent is reasonable for living close to the Capitol and they respond within 24 hours to a maintenance requests.
The Monticello
*Disclaimer, these are purely recommendations based on student feedback not views or recommendations of the NTP or UW-Madison.
Buying a home:
Occasionally, graduate students decide to purchase a house in Madison. A few recommendations of good realtors are Ronda Lawry from Keller Williams Realty (rlawry@kw.com), Rachel Whaley from Liz Lauer and Associates (rachel@lizlauer.com), and Anna Trull from Stark Company Realtors (atrull@starkhomes.com). If you’d like more information please contact the NTP office and we will connect you with the students who recently bought homes via these realtors.
*Disclaimer, these are purely recommendations based on student feedback not views or recommendations of the NTP or UW-Madison.
Moving Companies:
Check with your alumni association, AAA, or your credit cards; some offer discounts and include insurance. Students have used national, reputable moving companies and also rented trucks from U-Haul, Ryder, and Penske. They recommend obtaining written estimates if using a moving company.
If you choose to rent a truck:
reserve the truck as far in advance of your move as possible; summer is a very busy time
check prices of different rental companies
confirm your reservation (dates using the truck and size of the truck) prior to your departure
Once you have found a place to live please contact the NTP office with your Madison address!
Enrolling for Classes and UW E-mail Address
Enrollment is done online in July. Additionally, you will receive an admissions letter from the Graduate School that includes information on how to activate your NETID and enroll in courses and how to activate your e-mail address, also known as Wiscmail. This e-mail will be used for all official correspondence from the program so you should be sure to check it often or have it forwarded to an e-mail address that you will check.
Financial Institutions
You may find information on services, rates, and locations for local financial institutions using the links below. All of these banks provide outstanding service and have branches throughout the city.
Buying A Bike
Bikes are very popular, both for getting to and from campus, as well as for enjoying our many bike paths. Retailers you may wish to check out are:
Budget Bicycle Center
Machinery Row Bicycles
Trek Bicycle Store
Motorless Motion Bicycles
Some companies also have used bike sales in the late summer/fall like Revolution Cycles