Should I live on campus?

[Anonymous]

I'm debating whether to live on campus at my school or not. I just transferred there after two years at community college. Surprisingly, I was able to make a lot of friends at community college. It's whatever you make of it and I was very outgoing.

I've been extremely fortunate and am working at an co-op as well as school. It'll take me an extra 2 years to graduate because I alternate going to school and working, but I'll get financial assistance in paying for classes, and be able to graduate debt free and with at least $30,000 in the bank. Plus as long as I do well, I'm almost guaranteed a job after college.

The school I'm going to is considered a commuter school. Roughly half the population commutes. As a result, there are a lot of commuter-geared events, so commuters can stay involved. So I'm not sure whether I should live on campus or not. School is a 20-30 minute drive from my house, so not too far. If I commute, I'd probably get there early, stay the whole day, socialize, and leave around 4 or 5. So I don't see too much of a difference between commuting and living on campus, other than I save $5000 a semester by commuting.

I know I have the money to live on campus, but I'm pretty frugal and would rather save the money. Plus, I already got the "dorm experience" working at a camp. It was okay, wasn't crazy over it. I'm independent anyway so there wasn't too much of a learning curve. So should I live on campus or not?

Live on campus

Commute

Maybe live on campus for 1-2 semesters, but otherwise commute

No opinion or want to see results

[gonyr]

If its that close to home I'd say commute.

The motivation for living on a dorm would be to meet people but you proved you don't need to live on a college campus to do that.

I lived on campus for 3 years, and lived off campus, downtown for the last. I think living off campus helped me pick a schedule that actually made sense, instead of just classes randomly pieced together. It also made sure I never skipped. On campus, if YouTube a long break between classes, the temptation is to just go back to your dorm. Once your there, it's hard to re motivate yourself to go again. An I lived off campus, I would stay in the library and do work because I knew I couldn't just leave

[jmr2191]

There are two things every college student should do before they graduate:

1. Spend at least one semester on campus.

2. Study abroad for one semester (intersession or full semester)

[Anonymous]

I lived in a dorm my first two years at college before I moved off-campus...hated it but it helped me make friends. The living space is small and shared and I wasn't crazy about that. However, I am kind of shy so it helped me make friends with people I'm still friends with now going into my senior year. Your situation is different though and it sounds like you're pretty outgoing and can make friends easily so I would say to commute.

[xHoneyxBeex]

Commute. I live 20 minutes from my university and I save so much by commuting. I still made friends who I see on a daily basis. I go around 7:30 for my 8am class and stay all day so it's basically the same except, like you mentioned, you save a lot of money. That's money you could have for when you graduate. So, I really don't see the point in living on campus.

[ladsin]

living on campus is best everyones their party central

[Anonymous]

Save the money. 5000 is quite a big money.

[Anonymous]

commuting is better