depends on where you're looking at in blacktown...
someone said parra's like another city? um...so is blacktown hence the name Blacktown City Council etc..
parra is closer to the city and stuff, but blacktown (city not the more suburban parts) is only about 15/20 minutes from parramatta.
I live in Blacktown council area and its same as parra as far as if you dont live in the um...less appealing shall i say... areas, housing is nice, plenty of parks around, blacktown's good i think coz there's less 'city traffic' n stuff both have big shopping centres, both have plenty of restaurant, tale aways,cafes etc, both have big libraries, i mean... there isnt really
that much difference for a uni student....
both have plenty of places you can get casual work, if that's relevant, at food or retail places or offices etc..
far as the uni, i havent been to blacktown campus apart from to go the library and stuff and student centre but im at parra. Campus is realtively small compared to othe runis, but its good coz you have less distance to walk
library's good, staff are all helpful, the range of courses available at parra seems larger than blacktown n penrith so maybe that's somethin 2 consider. blacktown's admin people seem nicer than the parra ones to me... but at the same time, there's less of them so is just as slow.
got a bar, cafe and all that stuff. plenty of friendly people, plenty of sports n other stuff organised, easy to get to - you can drive, altho parking's a bitch atm.. but if you got public transport - buses to/from parra station come every 10/15 minutes, trains to/from blacktown stn from parra station come about that often too.