I’m 21, turning 22 very soon, and preparing to enter my senior year of college. I have lived on-campus for three out of (what I had expected to be) four years of college. The first two years were fine, I loved it in fact. It was important for me to be in an environment where I was able to make new friends and share milestones with them. The dorms provided an appropriate amount of independence for that age and time period in my life; a period which I have now outgrown.
Last semester, the majority of my class opted to move off-campus. Most apartment complexes are over $1000 cheaper than the dorms, it’s much more quiet, private bed and baths, and you don’t have to deal with the rowdiness that can sometimes occur in the dorms.
However my parents want me to continue to stay in the dorms, as for “peace of mind”. They worry about the fact that anybody can move into the apartment complex and prey on naive students. I’ve expressed to them multiple times that while I understand their hesitancy, staying on campus has been terrible on my mental health. I’m lonely. I’m depressed. I’ve lost a noticeable amount of weight. I seldom see my friends and have close to zero support system at school. I do the exact same thing every day; between work and class from 10am-5pm, it’s repetitive and draining. After this, I come home every day to an empty room.
I can’t go anywhere. I can’t go visit friends, or even get to the grocery store because I don’t have a car. Initially my parents gifted me one the Summer before, but then opted to give it to my (unemployed) older brother [23] after he wrecked his. I still don’t understand their logic on this, as the accident was entirely his fault. He was being careless and could have easily killed himself or somebody else, but as frustrating as it is, I’ve tried to stop bringing it up as it only seems cause more arguments.
But the housing situation is something I refuse to comply with yet again. I can’t do it. It’s now at the point where I’m opting to go completely online and move back home. I’m planning to do summer classes so that I can graduate a semester early, because now I just want my degree. This is frustrating because some of the classes I need for graduation aren’t offered online by my school, I’ll have to find a college nearby and complete transfer classes in addition to my online classes. It’s a hassle and I shouldn’t have to be doing any of this but they will not budge on letting me move off campus.
I’ve been trying to save up, to pay on my own, but I can’t afford to pay rent in addition to paying my tuition and fees on my own, and if I move off campus they said they would no longer help pay for my school. I feel stuck, depressed, and unsure of what to do. I hate that I feel the need to cut my college experience short because of controlling parents.