Unlike many people who've come to this site, I don't have any vendettas with Cambridge Oaks, so I will try to give as neutral of a review as possible.

I was a C.A. (their version of an R.A.) there for just under a year, until I moved to Cullen Oaks. I've been on both sides of the desk, so I know the deal as far as a resident and as a staff member.

Where should I start' To basically sum it up, Cambridge Oaks really is a nice place to live - if you're a middle-aged student, married, or have children. If you are considering moving there as an 18-23 year old, or your child is considering Cambridge Oaks, I strongly recommend that you find a different option.

First and foremost, what is usually everyone's main concern: the cost. Pretty much the only reason I signed up to live in Cambridge initially was because they offered leases for quarter-spaces, in which you have half of a bedroom inside of a 2/2 to yourself & you share the apartment with 3 (or 2) other students. The rate was $324 per month for a 9 month lease or $302 for a 12 month lease, the latter of which I chose.

After I became a C.A., they eliminated this option, meaning the cheapest option one would have would be to lease one of the bedrooms at $684 monthly. You could still have someone share the room with you & spilt the rent in half, but many first-time students like I was at the time don't know anyone else attending UH, and wouldn't be able to spilt the rent.

Fast forward to the present, & their rates aren't exactly what I would call "cost-efficient". According to their own website, www.campushousing.com/uh, the rate for 1 room inside a 2/2 for Fall 2005 will be $7728 (692 monthly), an Efficiency, will be $9144 ($794 monthly), and a 1/1 Bedroom will be an incredible $10,104 for 1 year ($890 monthly).

To properly ice the cake, you must realize that these apartments were built in 1991, and are not furnished, meaning that you're expected to pay $890 a month for an unfurnished, 14-yr. old 1 bedroom apartment.

Now for the ugly part: the negatives. There are many more negatives than positives, so I'll try to be thorough, yet balanced.

#1. The accounting system is flawed. As a resident, I received non-payment notices when I previously payed, and as a staff member, I've dealt with renters who've paid, but still receive notices. To add to the burden, when you attempt to resolve the problem, you likely will have to schedule an appointment with the financial manager, even though it literally only takes maybe 3-4 minutes to look up the acct. & assess the problem.

#2. Professional staff is hard to trust. The previous management (---- ---------, --- ------, ----- -----, etc.) were okay to deal with despite the problems that usually arise. The present management, however, is not so. The apartment manager comes across as a very polite & caring man, yet he is known for failing to deliver or live up to promises. The financial manager is known for taking forever to meet with renters, then being very callous and uncaring when finally meeting about issues.

#3. These apartments were built when Bush was in office (not W.). Many people on here say that Cambridge is a dump, which is incorrect. I've seen places much worse than Cambridge, but at the same time, this is an old complex, and years of neglect are beginning to take toll. As far as the refridgerator, stove, and dishwasher, it's really a toss-up. Some units have well maintained hardware & it's not a problem at all. Others are victims of a comnbination of nasty tenants & an understaffed Maintenance department. I've seen with my own two eyes ovens decimated by grease & grime, yet they still are "cleaned" & remain in the unit for the next tenant.

3. Maintenance is slow & understaffed. This isn't a knock on the people they have working; this is just a fact regarding their service. They have 1 woman who is the main "cleaning" employee, 1 man who is a general worker, & the head maintenance man who handles the larger tasks. There are 13 buildings with roughly 16 units in each building, so it is easy to see why maintenace requests often take a while to be addressed.

4. Amenities suck, plain & simple. Times have changed; a laundry room, complete with 2 vending machines & a change machine should not be listed as an amenity; it is a necessity. There are 2 barbecue grills w/ patios & lawn furniture, but the grills are usually horribly dirty & you have to clean them personally. There is a big-screen television in the office, but because of the hostile environment one usually encounters there, noone ever really uses it. Also, their new selling point is being "the only student-housing on-campus with a pool". To be totally honest & blunt, this idea was completely ridiculous. Rent is already through the roof, & they chose to build a new pool, of which the costs will be covered through rent increases of course. But the real reason the pool is useless is that all students pay a student fee for the recently opened Campus Recreation and Wellness ------ (www.uh.edu/recreation). The Rec ------ has both an indoor Natatorium that UH Swimming & Diving use & the U.S. Olympic team actually trained there prior to the '04 Olympics. Also, there is an outdoor leisure pool as well. Many students frequent the Rec on a daily basis & both pools are on a world-class level, basically making Cambridge's plan to build a pool a waste of time and money.

5. There is no free lunch. This is a basic principle learned in most Economics classes & this applies to Cambridge as well. Hi-speed internet, water, cable, and gas are all "free" to residents, but all are residual costs which are covered with the yearly rent increase (yes, rent literally does increase each year). The internet is down so much that residents are actually surprised if they are able to connect from their apartments more than often. While I doubt that it is a problem anymore, towards the end of my stay, residents were without water (not hot water, but water altogether) for extended periods of time over a 3-4 day period. The complaints rained from the heavens, but both the apartment manager & financial manager were convieniently "out-of-town" for the weekend, even though at least 1 professional staff member is expected to be on site at a time.

6. Parking can be disastrous. While I don't expect parking to be a menace anymore, since their occupancy rate should fall due to their increased rates, when I was there, they were nearing capacity. There is a perimiter fence along the south side of the property where visitors are expected to park. So if you live on the other side of the property, your guest is going to have to park at the back of the lot & walk to your unit, which really wasn't the main problem. The problem was that tenants w/ parking stickers would park in visitor parking if spaces by their unit were taken, eliminating space for true visitors. Once my girlfriend visited me overnight & all the spaces were taken, so we parked in front of my apartment. I woke up for work at 6:30 a.m. & found her car was towed at 5:35 a.m. Despite not having any visitor spaces available, Cambridge refused to offer any aid or apologies & I was forced to foot the $125 towing fee.

7. There is virtually no security. UHPD has officers who do a sweep in their cars a few times a night, but other than that, there is no security at all. No security guards are employed to cover the property, and this is evident by the constant reports of robberies in the Crime Beat of The Daily Cougar. If you go there at night, you'll often see cars park at the entrance & wait for someone w/ a gate gard to open the gate, then they will simply drive in after the car which opened the gate. After that, they can simply drive straight to your apartment door if they desired. There is an option to put your telephone # into the call box to let visitors in at the gate, and you can use your cellphone # as well. The problem is, they don't delete the old residents from the directory. When I moved out, I still had mail that wasn't being forwarded, so I simply would walk to the gate, dial my old extension, & open the gate using my cellphone.

8. Random complaints. Like said before in other reviews, I've been awakened at 6 a.m. by the lawn crew. Despite the high rent, pets are not allowed. There are monthly activities & programs, but there is no turnout due to the animosity towards the staff and lack of interest in the programs.


Like I said earlier, there are positives to living in Cambridge Oaks. Their main selling point that they brag about, the location, is literally right by the campus. On the intersection of Cullen and Wheeler, you can actually walk to your classes with no problem. However, most people don't walk because of the shuttle service provided by UH. The shuttle runs from 7 am to 11 pm Mon-Fri & takes you to the campus, preventing the need to walk in the hot sun.

Because residents can park on the property & ride the shuttle to school, there isn't a need to purchase a parking permit, which is required to park on non-metered spaces on campus. This saves you from paying upwards of $130 for a parking permit from UH.

Also, Cambridge is the only on-campus housing available for married students or those with children. There is an option to add a guest to the lease (at least when I was there) if you have a 1 bedroom or efficiency, so if you have a friend, relative, or lover who doesn't attend UH, they can still live with you. Also, UHPD is located on the other side of Wheeler, roughly 30 meters away to the West. The university's Child Care ------ is also located across the street, making it convinient for those with children.

There's a video checkout system available to all residents that allows you to checkout up to four DVD's or VHS tapes at a time free of charge. From the last time I was there, there was roughly 450 VHS & 110 DVD's, although the VHS selections were relatively outdated.

Also, while they say preference is given to upperclassmen and graduate students, all students receive equal consideration since they operate on a first-come, first-serve basis, meaning that if you or your child is a new student or freshman, then they can stay there instead of the dorms, if you like.

While the professional staff can be shady at times, for the most part, the student staff has good intentions. After the last group of student staff moved on around the middle of 2004, the service dropped off, but the intentions of the staff hasn't changed. Often at times, they can be uninformed and of little use to answer your problems, but that's due to the chain of command. For the most part, their student staff has genuine concern for the well-being of the residents.

In the grand scheme of things, I would only recommend Cambridge to older students, or those who are married, have families, or have a child or children. For nearly $900 a month, you can find a loft downtown, a townhouse in the Medical ------ area, or even a nice house. No freshman should have to pay $700 a month for a private room, no matter what. If you are a parent searching for on-campus housing for your child, I would recommend checking out Cullen Oaks (www.cullenoaks.com), which opened in 2002 or Bayou Oaks (www.bayouoaks-uh.com), which opened in 2003. Both are new, elegant facilities, that are moderately priced and affordable even for students financing their own education.

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