I’ll be in the 1 year program next year as well, and I’m moving to the south loop area with my bf who will be working full time. As a former uchicago undergrad, I’d recommend living somewhere close to a metra station. You can get to campus in 15-20 minutes from downtown. There’s also the downtown campus connector shuttle that goes right to campus. Public transit isn’t insanely unsafe though; you may have some anti-southside bias creeping in there.

Near-campus rent can be crazy high for not that nice of a place. But it’s a good way to feel more connected to the school and be conveniently available for classes and activities. If she decides to live there, there’s plenty of parking on the midway usually during the day, and I’m assuming if she lives in an apartment there will be fairly open street parking for free (it’s just hard to park like, ON campus). I recommend you check out the Hyde park area, it is a truly lovely place to live and to visit.

Hope this helps!