<p>I live about a half hour away from my college and want to know if I should dorm. The college is Montcliar State University. I am going to be involved in athletics and wanted to know if it will help me academically or will it matter? Also my brother will be dorming there as he also will be involved in athletics as well and I also have friends living on campus. Would I just be throwing money away or will this help me academically, socially, and help me live on my own? Would love to hear experiences, and thoughts on if its worth it.</p>
<p>Montclair, eh? I got accepted there. Guess you live in NJ too. Going to Kean tough. Anyway, if you are looking for the “real life” experience, you should stay on campus.</p>
<p>Many good times would be had, considering your brother, and several friends attend. I think for four years, it would be a waste of money. Not to mention, 40% of students don’t graduate in 6 years. Maybe commute the first year or two, and live the last two on campus.</p>
<p>Would you have a better time? No doubt! Would it improve your academics? That would really depend on what you plan to do with your extra time.</p>
<p>I would suggest living on campus at least the first year. Then, you can reevaluate. But that year on campus would help you make friends.</p>
<p>I think it sounds like you won’t have any problem making friends. However, I would suggest it. I think the dorm experience would be helpful so you get some independence from your parents. If money is not an issue, you should stay in the dorm.</p>
<p>the fact that you live half an hour away would make me say dorm. especially if you have morning classes, that half an hour really becomes annoying. also, if you have classes that are an hour apart or something, making it not worth it to go home between, you’re going to wish you had a dorm to go back to.</p>
<p>I would definitely say to dorm at least the first year. Dorming is the easiest way to make friends, get adjusted to college life etc…living at home you would likely miss out on a lot of these things. Even if you had plenty of friends, from what I’ve heard (at least one of the things my university claims) is that students who live on campus have better grades than those who don’t. So academically and socially dorming is the better option. If you dorm one year and then see fit to go home, that is totally your prerogative.</p>
<p>i think you know that you need to dorm and you just need people to tell you to dorm.</p>
<p>but if not, then id say dorm, its what made me grow up.</p>
<p>I’d have to agree with kid112. Now, I have never attended college, but I have put up with long commutes before. And what kid said is about right…if you do choose to commute you will pretty much have to hang around on campus to make the best use of your time. Who knows, you may be good with that. So if you had say an hour and a half between classes and you weren’t feeling good that particular day…bummer. I say go for the dorm because of convenience. And you would probably meet people outside of the group of friends that you already know there, which could be good in the long run.</p>
<p>If costs are not an issue then dorm. It’s just the one of those college things that you should experience. It helps with socialness, helps you feel connected to your school, and I think will help you academically. If you’re going back and forth then that’s going to kill time and at home you may not feel so academically inclined. If it’s not for you then you can leave after winter, or end of the year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think you got that backwards. (Either that, or I’m just completely confused by your thoughts on that)</p>
<p>You get to learn about living on your own, though not fully, living in the dorm. It’s also more convenient when you’re under a lot of pressure to get things done as you can work late at night and get a little more rest in the morning. You don’t have to worry about transportation problems for finals. Bad weather is probably less of an issue in NJ compared to New England but it can be an issue. You don’t have to worry about traffic and construction delays with the dorm.</p>
<p>well I say commute the first couple years because there would be something really unappealing about living on campus, then moving back home after it gets too expensive. To me, it would make more sense to live on campus your junior and senior years because first of all, you would have a much better idea of your graduation date. Second, you would be of legal drinking age.</p>
<p>commute from home? lol. I’d think most would get an Apt/house with their bros/ladies after a few yrs</p>
<p>I live half an hour away from my college and I have stayed on campus for the last two years.</p>
<p>I say commute. You live close enough so that you can go to all of the events on campus whenever you want, take advantage of all the campus’ gyms, libraries, recreation, friends, etc. and then only difference is you’re going home to your own bed at night.</p>
<p>Oh, and you don’t have to pay the 5 thousand or so a year for the dorm. Rooms will be anywhere over 1000 a semester just for a double and then around another thousand for a meal plan. That can be anywhere from 4-6 thousand a year just so you can live in a dorm that’s <em>30 minutes</em> away! Personally I would rather have that money so that I can get my own apartment later or after college. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m in community college and the half hour commute doesn’t bother me at all. Of course I’m not missing anything on campus, but the commute has never been an issue. </p>
<p>Sure everyone preaches the first year experience, but maybe I’m one the only ones who preaches not going into debt before you even complete general education. I’ve known people who lived on campus the first year and had to switch schools because it was just way too expensive. At least live at home for the first couple of years, if not the first three or all four years- you’ll save so much money and not have to worry about paying that all off after school. Instead you’ll be able to go on and find your own apartment and start your independent life with plenty of money saved up.</p>
<p>I’ve had experiences with commuting 1/2 hour and staying in the dorm, and I MUCH MUCH MUCH prefer the dorm. More freedom, less time getting to morning classes, get to go home earlier, study groups are easier to set up, and you have a place to relax between classes. (The last one was the best for me: commuting, I was pretty much stuck outside between classes, and I felt really awkward. Besides, I like to run at school, and I had nowhere to leave my stuff or get dressed.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’ve got to be looking extremely literally if the only difference you see is “your own bed at night”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’d like to know where you can live on $5000/yr. All the schools I’ve looked at, room alone costs 5k. Most of the privates were at least 7k with the meal plans being around 3-4k.</p>
<p>^ I guess some of my state schools are cheap!</p>
<p>I’m just saying that if you live that close to campus you can choose to come and go on campus as you please. You can stay on campus all day, hang out with people, go to all the campus events, etc. and then go home at the end of the evening.</p>