Ok, so I will be attending UCF this fall, but the only scholarship I received was Florida Bright Futures (the top one, but it still only covers half the tuition). I’m lucky that my parents are going to pay for the rest of my tuition and books and everything, but if I want to live on campus, I have to pay for it myself because they don’t have the money for that. For housing and food, it costs approximately $4000 a semester. I was thinking of getting a job over the summer and using all the savings I currently have, but that would still only cover about 1 semester. I suppose I could take out a loan, but I really don’t want to. Would it be worth it?
I only live about 20-30 minutes away from the school, but I’m afraid of becoming one of those commuter kids that shows up for classes and that’s it. I REALLY want to be involved, and I want to get the best out of this year that I can. I made it into Burnett, so will that help me to be more involved?
I don’t know what to do, and time is ticking. According to the website most of the housing is already taken, and I’m not sure what’s left. I’d be extremely grateful for any advice you all have.
Since you live somewhat close, I would just say commute. In my opinion, it is not worth the extra money you’re going to spend. If you don’t want to be one of those kids that just shows up for classes, then don’t be! UCF has plenty of clubs and activities going on all the time that you can involve yourself with.
When you think about the enrollment at UCF (60,000 or something like that), there are plenty of other people who are not living on campus and are commuting also!
Good luck with your decision!
Commute your first year. If you can work and come up with enough money to live there later on, do so.
Honestly thats tough. Because even thouh you want to be involved its hard when you live off or far from campus. But if your willing to put in the effort im sure you can make it work! Also before making a desciion view your loaning options and call housing to talk about payment plans. If you could afford 1 year on campus i would do that. The first year is te best for on campus. Freshman year is really the only year students live on campus anyway, after that everyone goes to apartments or houses. Freshman year you can meet alot of people and get involved on campus and build kind of a core for the next few years. Another option: live at home freshman year and summer going into sophmore year sublease or live on campus. This will be 500.00 - 1000 for the summer and you could meet people and test it out- good luck!
Thanks everyone for your responses! I’m still not sure what I’ll ultimately do, but it helps to hear some different perspectives. 
No, definitely live on-campus freshman year! The rest aren’t as important. I think the freedom/experience/independence should be had on your freshman year. Trust me.
Hmm, thanks for for your input @JakeCage, definitely something for me to think about. Did you dorm your freshman year? How did you manange to pay for it?