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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Panicking! - Does anyone know anything about La Crosse in Wisconsin?

26 replies

Bluedeblue · 15/06/2021 15:11

Posting here for traffic (sorry).

My DD is planning to move to La Crosse, but I'm reading that the crime rates there are really high. Does anyone have any knowledge of the area? TIA.

OP posts:
MojoMoon · 15/06/2021 15:36

Assuming your daughter is an adult without significant special needs, what are you hoping your research on crime rates in an obscure part of the US is going to achieve?

If she wants to move there and is an adult capable of making her own decisions, then don't go digging around on the internet to try and scare her out of it due to crime

Bluedeblue · 15/06/2021 15:55

FinallyHere thanks for those links, I will read them all.

MojoMoon Because caring about your child's safety doesn't just end when they turn 18! She's very young still.

OP posts:
knittingaddict · 15/06/2021 16:05

Where is she moving from? UK?

Something is making her want to move there. Job? Relationship?

High crime rate compared to where?

How old is she?

One thing to note is that if you google the crime rate in any place it always looks high. Have you googled the crime rate where you live? You may be surprised.

Bluedeblue · 15/06/2021 16:08

Yes, from the UK. I thought it looked nice, but internet says crime rate is high (compared to other US cities).

OP posts:
Castlepeak · 15/06/2021 16:15

Just looked up crime rates for La Crosse and it does say it has a high crime rate for a city of its size. I would really examine that statement closely. Cities like this in the United States are incredibly safe. Ridiculously safe. That it has a higher crime rate than average still doesn’t make it unsafe. You need to compare it to rates nationally, which I haven’t done. I’m just on my phone here and getting started. The other thing I notice is that it’s largely property crime. This is a university town. I’m would want to drill down and see if we are looking at high rates of stolen bicycles and items left on library tables. Again, I haven’t done that digging.

But basically, unless this town happens to be a haven for meth production which at least a quick Google isn’t revealing, most medium sized Midwestern cities are idyllic places to live.

WettyHainthrop · 15/06/2021 16:24

OP, would be be ‘panicking’ wherever she was moving to…?

What’s taking her to Wisconsin?

arithanaggerton · 15/06/2021 16:31

With all due respect OP, I'm not sure what you expect to find out asking about a random US city that most people will have never heard of on a UK based forum? Find a local forum for the city or a Facebook group and ask the people who live there.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 15/06/2021 16:36

My best friend went to University there. It's a college town, so I imagine the crime rate is high because of petty theft and underage drinkers doing daft stuff.

Why is she moving there? Is it to do with the University? If it's for employment, they should be able to advise her on where the safest places are to live. If she's moving for love, then her partner should have a handle on where's safe.

BathshebaKnickerStickers · 15/06/2021 16:37

Is she moving for a new partner..?

Cowbells · 15/06/2021 17:14

If you are worried, find out more about the crime. Some high crime rate cities are actually very low on crimes to strangers and the numbers are skewed by gang warfare in areas she probably wouldn't spend any time.

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 15/06/2021 17:43

Niche.com is a good place to start when you're looking at places to live.
www.niche.com/places-to-live/la-crosse-la-crosse-wi/

Does your DD have children? It looks like the schools there are excellent.

From what I can see I wouldn't be panicking if my DD was moving there. I'd be buying her some LLBean vouchers for winter gear though.

BuffySummersReportingforSanity · 15/06/2021 17:49

It's fine. It's just a Midwestern college town. It's not some kind of black hole of danger.

You do seem excessively anxious. What good has googling the crime rate done you, exactly? If your DD has plans to live there, she's not going to shelve them because you've worked yourself into a state. All you've done is upset yourself, and if you try to influence your DD, damaged your relationship with her.

dottymac · 15/06/2021 17:57

Created an account just to reply to your post. I'm Scottish but lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin through my husband's job. I never visited la Crosse, but since it wasn't a million miles away, some of my experiences may apply.

Like everywhere, there are nice parts and dodgy parts so she'll need to research areas to live etc and choose wisely.

When we were there the exchange was fab for our pound which is not the case now I believe.

Americans live to work andy husband worked ALOT of hours, compared with the UK, so that was a shock. His job had less benefits like holidays so that's something to be aware of

We were also hit with random and high medical costs (god bless the NHS).

The weather is extreme - boiling in the summer and cold as £&CK in the winter. That was a shock!

Some positives were that it was a really interesting place to live, lots of opportunities for fun road trips, people were just lovely in general.

I would say your daughter could have a really lovely experience living there but make sure she does all the right research and prep before she goes.

Bluedeblue · 16/06/2021 17:32

Apologies for only just coming back to the thread. I will try to reply to questions....

OP posts:
Bluedeblue · 16/06/2021 17:43

She is moving because her partner has a football scholarship at Vertibo Uni (Post Grad).

Very good point about the type of crime, yes, maybe there's a lot of petty crime. As I dug deeper it would appear that violent crime is low (phew)

Thank you, I will look at Niche.com

No, she doesn't have children.

Thanks you dottymac that's very interesting.

I'm feeling less anxious about it today. Yesterday, the website I looked at said that 89% of other US cities were safer than La Crosse (!!!!), which immediately made me think WTF! The gun crime over there worries me. However, I was looking at other websites which confirmed that violent crime is low, so that's good.

I know it will be an amazing adventure.

Thank you so much for the advice.

OP posts:
spongedog · 16/06/2021 17:49

I worked in Washington DC for 3 years. At that time it was the murder capital of the world - over 500 murders the year before I moved. When you analysed the data - if you werent a young drug-dealing black male in a gang in SE DC then your chances of being murdered were miniscule. Really miniscule. As I didnt tick any of those points I went and had a brilliant 3 years.

The number of people who couldnt see past the headline!

allfurcoatnoknickers · 16/06/2021 18:50

@Bluedeblue Just noticing that you say "partner" rather than husband or wife. How is she getting a visa? If you want to be worried about something, I'd worry about properly navigating US immigration, it's very, very strict.

Castlepeak · 16/06/2021 18:56

Post-grad generally aren’t eligible to play sports. How is the partner getting a scholarship? What degree will he be seeking?

Also how is she getting a visa and does it include the right to work? Does she have health insurance?

PerciphonePuma · 16/06/2021 19:18

@Bluedeblue I have a friend who lives there OP. I can ask her if you like?

Caterina99 · 16/06/2021 19:52

What is her visa? US immigration is very strict as someone said above. The whole process takes forever and is very expensive so I’d worry about that first!

RightYesButNo · 16/06/2021 22:41

Is her partner American? Because this all seems a bit confusing.

  • They don’t give sports scholarships for post-graduate degrees.
  • They don’t give sports scholarships for international students, usually?
  • He’ll have health insurance through being a student, but she needs to get health insurance somehow or a single accident that requires American hospital care can put you thousands of dollars into debt.
  • It may be a little dicey having an unmarried partner at a Catholic university (Viterbo is a Catholic Franciscan university). There won’t be any quarters on campus where they can live together unmarried.

Violent crime is no issue really, though. La Crosse has 50,000 people in it and had a grand total of… 2 murders last year. Midsomer Murders is more dangerous. What they do have is tons of theft.

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 16/06/2021 22:53

I don't know about sports scholarships for post-grads, but they do give sports scholarships to international students - I know a few.

I'm not sure how the daughter will get a visa to move to the US if she's the unmarried partner of a postgrad student though. I think you have to be married to get a J-2, F-2 or H-4. I guess if she also studied then she could get her own visa that way but that sounds expensive.

Health insurance - I know DD's university health insurance allows you to cover domestic partner, spouse, children. If not the daughter could get it through her own job, or buy it on the exchange - she certainly should not be without it.

RightYesButNo · 16/06/2021 23:35

@ZZTopGuitarSolo Interesting about the international sports scholarships. When I was looking at some American universities, which I admit was back in the time of dinosaurs, it seemed none of them did, so maybe it was just those ones or maybe it changed. Then perhaps post-grads can now get sports scholarships as well.

NerrSnerr · 16/06/2021 23:39

They don’t give sports scholarships for international students, usually?

Off the top of my head I can think of about 6 current British sports people at college in the US on sports scholarships so there must be many more. No idea about Post Grad. I do know a British athlete who recently did her PHD in colarado though and went to the US as an undergrad. Not sure about visas and the like though.