One of my friend will attend university at Taipei (Tamkang) while I will attend mine at Hsinchu (NTHU) we are looking for a compromise on where to live. Something on between would be nice but i cant seem to find one where each of us would only spend 30-45 minutes on the commute.
Check out Jhongli or Taoyuan Districts. They have train stations that will make the commute easier if living together is mandatory.
Or. You two can live in Zhubei near the HSR station AND train statins, brand new housing. Hsinchu’s transit is far worse than Taipei’s, so for him, he might be half an hour on the buses to get to NTHU but you will be in Taipei in like 20 minutes. Taipei’s MRT makes getting around easy, but MRT isn’t exactly…available in smaller counties like Hsinchu just quite yet.
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Or you can live separately, make the double the amount of local friends, and speak Chinese more often than if otherwise living together and speaking your native language.
Going abroad to study is also about immersing yourself in the culture.
You both should be able to find decent cheap apartments in Tamshui and Hsinchu and visit each other on the weekends.
Unless it’s your “significant other”. 
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If that’s Tamkang Tamsui campus, there are no locations that meet this criteria. The MRT ride alone from Taipei is 45 mins. Your friend should live in Tamsui to prevent madness.
If it’s the downtown campus, then the only place I can think of that meets this criteria is Taoyuan HSR and getting monthly passes to Taipei ($4600) and Hsinchu ($3700), respectively. There are buses from Hsinchu HSR to NTHU, and it’ll be around 30~40 minutes for each of you. Not a great area to live in, IMO. Still too new, tons of construction ongoing and not really “done” yet.
Might want to live separately closer to your respective schools if you don’t absolutely have to live together.
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I agree. TKU is a pain in the ass to get to even if you live in Danshui. Living outside of Taipei is a non-starter: you’d spend a lot of money (and at least 90 minutes each way) on the daily commute that would be better spent on a nearby apartment.