One of the struggles of college students is deciding the perfect type of housing that best suits their needs. What many don’t know is that you aren’t forced to live in the dorms of your college campus, there are housing opportunities off campus. However, living off campus comes with great responsibilities. Here are a few tips to help decide which living situation best suits you:
Living on Campus
1. Pro: No more commuting
Most people have trouble waking up in the morning, getting ready for class and having to leave early enough to commute to school. When you live on campus, all you have to do is get out of bed and walk to class. There’s no need to worry about leaving your house early enough to avoid morning traffic.
2. Con: No Privacy
When you dorm, you share a room with another roommate. There is no wall that separates the two of you. You are forced to live with someone you never met in a closed environment. If you are the type of person who cannot change in front of other people, you’ve been warned, dorming is probably not for you. Not only to having your own privacy in your room, there is no privacy in bathrooms. Community bathrooms are shared between those who live around you. While there are private stalls and private showers, it’s still a public bathroom.
3. Pro: Don’t have to pay out of pocket
Most students get student loans that will cover their on campus housing. Students don’t have to pay out of pocket or monthly rent to live on campus. It all gets paid when you pay your tuition. There is no need to worry about not being able to make a payment because when a student loan covers the cost, you don’t have to pay it back until after you graduate.
4. Con: Strict Rules
There are some schools that do not allow underclassmen to have a car on campus. There are also schools that have strict curfews and have quiet hours where students are stuck in their room and have to maintain a certain noise level to accommodate the rest of the students living on the same floor. Lastly, you have to deal with other people living in the same building as you. If someone accidentally sets off the fire alarm, then the whole building is forced to evacuate regardless of the weather or the time of day.
Off campus housing
1. Pro: Your own Privacy
When you live off campus, you don’t have to share a small room with a complete stranger, you have your own space. Even though you share an apartment or a house with other people, you are able to have your own room and if you are lucky, your own bathroom. Not everyone is always home at the same time, so there are times where you have the whole house to yourself. It gives you the sense of peace and independence a lot of college students yearn for.
2. Con: Monthly payments and bills
If you plan to live off campus, you have to work or get money from somewhere whether it be from a parent or a close relative because you are now responsible for keeping up with monthly rent and with bills. Student loans don’t cover monthly rent, everything has to be paid out of pocket. I wouldn’t recommend that if a student cannot afford to live on their own, they shouldn’t choose this housing type because it could potentially add on more stress on top of the stress from school work.
3. Pro: Healthy Eating
There have been students who have gotten sick from school food. Many students have also gotten food poisoning and in all, school food isn’t the healthiest food. Even though you do need to know how to cook to eat healthy, it is a skill that every adult should know how to do. Learning to cook isn’t hard, there are many videos online that teach you how to make a meal step by step. It’s all about practice.
4. Con: Loneliness/Boredom
Having too much time to yourself can also be a bad thing. This is the easiest way people fall into a depressive state. Even though living on your own is nice, make sure you leave time to socialize with friends and stay on campus to go to events. Even though school is overwhelming and is extremely stressful, it’s important to not forget to have a social life.