The Colleges at La Rue

Location
On campus, off of La Rue Road & across the street from the ARC
Tandem Office
Hours: M-F 9:30am-12pm, 1pm-5:30pm
164 La Rue Road
(530)754-5797
thecolleges@tandemproperties.com
Website
http://www.tandemproperties.com/property.aspx?id=15
Features
Central Heat/Air Conditioning	Dishwasher/Microwave
Handicapped Access	Laundry Room
Rentable Storage	BBQ Areas
Fitness Room	Study Rooms
Ethernet Access	Near ARC & Rec Pool
Community Center Building

The Colleges at La Rue (more commonly known simply as "The Colleges") offer one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom units with deposits ranging from $200-$600 [2007-2008] and are managed by Tandem Properties. You can find the rents and floor plans on the Tandem website. The Colleges are available only to undergraduates, except first-years. The Colleges are a joint partnership between UC Davis and Tandem. The physical buildings are owned by Tandem, while the land is owned by UC Davis.

Map of The Colleges. Click to view larger size

This complex is on campus, meaning that it is in a great location for students. The Colleges sit directly across the street from the ARC, yet offers its own fitness room. The Rec Pool is immediately adjacent, and residents can easily bring just a towel and simply walk home to change out of their swimsuits. The apartments are pre-wired for Ethernet and residents connect via ResNet, making UC Davis their official ISP. Electrical service is provided by the university as well, but is not included in the monthly rent. For those who have trouble paying their bill on time, this can be a boon because the university will never shut off your power as fees continue to accrue; however, charges are added to your university account and can impact your ability to register or graduate. Phone service is also available through the university, once again similar to the dorms. The apartments also come pre-wired for cable, but do not include any type of service (not even Student Housing TV). The Colleges use underground thermal loops for cooling. The Colleges are on Unitrans J bus line, C bus line and D bus line, inbound only. However, the Colleges is only a short walk to The Silo, where you can catch several other bus lines.

The Colleges have a few 20-minute visitor parking spots, that people sometimes use as free parking for class (though they risk ticketing). There is also a parking lot reserved for residents that you can park in after 8 pm, or risk using illegally prior to that. While TAPS does not come by to ticket as often as they do for the campus lots, they still do so occasionally, so it's usually best to park only for short visits rather than leaving your car while you go to class. TAPS also does not start ticketing cars in the resident lot until near the end of October, once the residents have received their parking permits.

The Colleges do not allow residents to keep pets, except for guide dogs and other service animals.

The Colleges also has temporary storage units. A 6'x10' unit will run you $85/month.

To live in The Colleges, students were once required to be accepted into the Leadership Learning Community, which offered various extracurricular programs and events throughout the academic year. Today, you need only to find an open apartment, which may still be a difficult task to the competition for limited space. You must either find a current resident to move in with or enter a lottery to obtain one of the few apartments that open up each year. The lottery is completely random, with priority to current residents who are changing apartments. Your odds of getting an apartment are much better if you know someone you can move in with, either under a sublease or as a co-leaser.

As part of the Leadership Learning Community, residents were required to attend two 1.5-2 hour events (or a single longer event) a quarter. Some found the programs useful, others enjoyable, and still others treated it simply as part of "the price of living at The Colleges". Beginning Winter Quarter 2008, residents of the Colleges are no longer required to attend events. They are now strictly voluntary for those who seek their own professional development (in the case of leadership/career-oriented events such as resume workshops) or networking/enjoyment (in the case of community events such as ice cream and movie nights).

The Center for Leadership Learning is located here.

To learn more about rental housing options in Davis, please take a look at our Rental Housing Guide as well as our Apartments pages.

Comments:

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2006-09-09 22:27:57   I got accepted into the program and was offered an apartment right away, along with the other handful of people I knew that applied. We didn't have to worry about a lottery, and it wasn't even mentioned. They do have a really neat system for finding and looking for roommates. —ChristyMarsden

2007-02-02 09:08:16   There are ways to get around the lottery; it is possible to join a friend's lease and then transfer to a new apartment. You get priority since you're technically already a resident. Only problem (or maybe not, if you're into it) is you're required to participate in the programs each quarter. Also, when I lived there (2005-2006) I don't think the lottery program was really in place; we received several emails reminding people that apartments were available if we had friends who were looking for a place to live. —ElleWeber

2007-09-28 11:09:49   I enjoyed living here. I'm not sure if my neighbors were just quiet or the walls were soundproofed, but when they had stuff going on I could barely hear them. Although the walls within the apartment were paper thing. For a 100% student complex, parties never got out of hand and the campus police were always reasonable. I also found the units to be well insulated. —JamesSchwab

2008-05-10 15:32:10   Since The Colleges is so close to the ARC and therefore Band-Uh headquarters, sometimes you can hear them practice when you are near the street. It's like hearing the ice cream truck during summer: always slightly surprising and always fun. —TaniaG

2009-04-23 17:22:19   How is the fitness facility on site? I know the ARC is really close but I just like to run on a treadmill. If the College's treadmill's are as good as the ARC's, I see no reason to deal with the crowds there. Also, how is the 24 hour study area? I'll be living there next year and I am pretty excited :). —PhilMann