Are you deciding whether or not to live off campus? Do you think you’ve had it with communal bathrooms, tiny rooms, lack of air conditioning and sub par Wifi? I hope this list helps you decide!
PROS:
Freedom:
That’s right, total freedom. You want chicken nuggets for breakfast? You got it. You want to grow your own garden in your backyard? Go for it. Put a poster of Guy Fieri above your bed to stare at before you fall asleep? Not my concern!!
Space:
Not cramming your stuff into a room the size of a closet is pretty nice. You can put kitchen stuff and food in the actual kitchen, put bathroom stuff in a real life bathroom, and my goodness, you have room to breathe!
Decorating:
You can decorate your room, your living room, your kitchen, your dining room, ANYTHING! Open up your pockets and get ready for the most epic shopping spree ever.
Making your own food:
You can be your own Gordon Ramsey, master of the kitchen. Experiment with some fancy dishes or stick to a classic mac and cheese. Doesn’t matter what you do, because it is all yours!
Having people over:
No need to worry about your friends tramping through campus to get to you or your RAs banging on the door because you were talking too loudly. When you live off campus, you can have whoever you want over whenever you want. There are no limits on friendship here!
No Fire Drills/No RAS
It may sound shocking, but there are some places that do not wake you up in the morning with a shrill alarm just to test how fast you can exit the building; and that is your own personal home! Sure, you may accidentally set the fire alarm off when you forget to stir your Ramen, but you can just stay there and wait until it ends!
Laundry
Not only will your housemates not take your soaking wet clothes out of the drier to put their stuff in, but you can actually leave your laundry to chill instead of having to sit there and stare at it so no one will mess with it.
No RAs
No one to tell you to quiet down, to require you to go to a floor meeting, or to check your room out when the fire alarm goes off.
CONS
Freedom…
Meal prepping? Cleaning your own bathroom? You mean I have to do all of this on my own??
Gas money
The driving back and forth everyday adds up. Soon enough you don’t want to go anywhere, but rather would just hibernate on your couch then gather up your belongings and responsibilities to the library.
No Eick
Never thought I’d say this…I miss Eick. Not the food, really, but the convenience. Cooking everyday gets tiring and sometimes you just need that unlimited variety of food
Bills
Air conditioning is nice…until you have to pay for it. Same goes for Wifi. Soon enough you’re wondering who left the light on last night and why there are 40 different iPhones on your Wifi network.
Neighbors
Living off campus means your neighbors could range from being super fun college kids, a random couple you’ll never talk to, or a family. This means that you can’t have people screaming outside of your home at 2 AM and you can’t throw Project X parties no matter how bad you want to. It also includes that awkward smile and wave at the random people you see walking around your street, just in case they are thinking about calling the cops on you.
Parking on campus
If you know ANYTHING about living off campus, it is that the parking at TCNJ is terrible. Awful. You’ll have to start getting to campus thirty minutes before your class just to hopefully get a spot in Lot 5. Don’t even get me started on the Ed lot.
Inevitable arguments with housemates
Let’s be real here, life happens. Your custom-made, colorfully decorated chore chart will not last all year. And that, among other things, will definitely lead to arguments with your housemates. It’s totally normal, but definitely a downside of sharing an entire house with other people.
Never being on campus except for class
You end up missing a lot of events and excitement on campus, partly from having to go home for every meal and then being too lazy too come back.