<p>Would you live at home and commute 15 minutes to the college of your choice? What would be your pros and cons for doing that?</p>
<p>Pros would be simply not having to pay room and board. Cons would be not being a part of the community on campus and feelings of constraint because of your parents. Of course, if you are attending a commuter school, then this might not be the case so much. However, if you are going to a school where a great number of students (or at least freshmen) live on campus, then this is a fairly huge con, and can effect your college experience.</p>
<p>My son is just finishing up his freshman year in a college that’s located 15 minutes from our home. He lived on campus, and I would imagine that his freshman year would have been completely different had he not. Being integrated to the social life of school as a freshman is critical, and I think it would have been difficult if he came home after his classes. Essentially, we didn’t treat him any differently being at college 15 minutes away than we would have if he was 15 hours away. We didn’t ask him to come home for family events and he didn’t come home to do things like laundry. Neither one of us wanted college to be like high school.</p>
<p>I think the only benefit I could ever see to living at home while at college is for financial reasons. Fortunately for us, this was not a factor. If you can afford it, I would highly encourage you to live on campus and allow yourself to integrate into the whole college experience.</p>
<p>My d, who lives on campus, has several friends who commute (generally, their parents work at the school in question). They are in clubs with her, sororities with her, and seem fully integrated into the college life. They’re no different than kids who live in their own apartments off-campus.</p>
<p>The reason for that, though, is the arrangement they have with their parents. Their parents treat them as adult members of the household, not as high school students. They have their own transportation, do their own laundry, are not expected home for family meals (and are expected to call if they do want to eat with the family so that sufficient food can be provided), have no curfew. In return, they must call in the evenings if they are not coming home at a reasonable hour so parents don’t worry; must be quiet and respectful of the sleeping hours of the household as opposed to those of college students; and must generally behave as adult members of the household.</p>
<p>It seems to work out well for all concerned, provided that parents and students can reach agreement on the rules and expectations.</p>
<p>Doing this is probably the the single strongest predictor of a poor or ambivalent college experience. How would your relationship with your family have turned out if you’d grown up 15 minutes away and only gotten together with them for scheduled meetings?</p>
<p>I did this (35 yrs ago!) due to financial reasons-plus I lived only 25 min. away.</p>
<p>Love my school, had a very positive learning experience, but didn’t make the lifelong friends that people who live on campus make.</p>
<p>Knowing then what I know now, I should have found a way to live on campus.</p>