NY city
 

If we want to visit Columbia U. & NYU, what best neighborhoods in NY to stay so we can get a feel of the student life of those college kids?

If you go in the summer you can stay in the NYU dorms.
http://www.nyu.edu/summer/housing/

Those are in completely different neighborhoods, ~7 miles apart, and very different, so you'll have to choose.
NYU is in Greenwich Village, Columbia, near Morningside Heights.

I don't think that's all that practical- from what I understand, minimum stay for nonstudents is 8 weeks! Unless you see something I don't?

We would like to stay close to Columbia campus. Thanks for your suggestions!

You can easily stay in either area and then spend time walking the streets in the other. If you look online you can find out where the dorms are for each - but MNAY students live in shared apts in the same general areas.

But, yes, they are very different areas. And suggest you visit at night as well as during the day.

It's going to be hard to stay close to the Columbia campus since there are few hotels up there. I'd recommend the Aloft in Harlem. It's close to Columbia but still within striking distance of NYU.

Yes it is near the A train which will get you to the Village easily although most Columbia off Campus activity takes place on Broadway in Morningside Heights. Columbia has a gorgeous campus. NYU's Campus is spread all over the Village and beyond. (See my comments on another college thread here)

Thanks for all your comments. SueNYC, since you seem to live in NY city & had taken families to visit colleges (I had read your comments on the college thread), I am wondering "is it important to stay at a hotel close to Columbia college to get a feel of the student life" there?
We plan to visit Columbia & NYU. But since NYU School of engineer is in Brooklyn so we just stay at one area & take subway to the other.

Just being in NYC will give you a sense of student life in NYC. Many undergraduates here live either in dorms or college-owned apartments (but plenty rent from private landlords). But these dorms aren't sealed off on a campus as they would be in the midwest. You're usually right in the middle of some neighborhood ... such as Morningside Heights for Columbia or the Village for NYU. That's why kids want to go to college here, and you'll get a feel for that by staying somewhere in the city. Most Columbia students live in Harlem or Morningside Heights (or perhaps the Upper West Side). Most NYU students live below 34th street (but NYU-owned housing is all over, though much concentrated downtown).

You could also stay at the W Union Square or the Washington Square Hotel (which is across the street from the park that serves as the defacto NYU "campus"). NYU also operates a hotel on Union Square across from the W, but I don't know if they make it available for parents and kids on college visits.

Taking the subway to other areas works and spend some time near them. I probably forgot in the other post that the grandson and grandfather visited columbia while the grand daughter and I visited my now soon to be 101 year old friend who lives in the neighborhood (Columbia tried to evict her from her apartment so they could tear the perfectly good building down for 40 years. 10 years later they named the building after her.

The son and grandfather went to the Brooklyn Campus on their own and visited the Transit Museum while they were there. I was available by cell phone when I finished my tour. They managed quite by accident to meet the baseball coach they had made an appointment with in Manhattan for the next day.

Stay wherever and travel between places by subway, bus and foot. Enjoy!

Thanks for all your comments! I really enjoy this site!