<p>I got into a pretty good school where I live. They gave me 20k out of 35k in the form of a grant. Additional FA makes it so at most I have to take out $1500 in loans to pay for everything, assuming I commute to school. If I didn't commute and chose to live on campus then I'd have to pay out $6k out of pocket. I'm worried about not having a close connection with many people in college. High school was pretty meh because my lack of socialization. I don't want college to be a repeat. I've never been away from my parents for more than a week...If I stayed at home I'd have a bedtime, I'd have a curfew and probably restrictions on electronics too. How can I get the money needed for the rest of the housing?</p>
<p>Does your financial aid include loans besides the $1500? Freshmen can take up to $5500 in loans. You could work for the rest.</p>
<p>You can commute and still have a great college experience. Join clubs and attend campus activities to meet orher students. You’ll have more time to be involved if you don’t have to work to pay for housing. Have you talked to your parents? You’re becoming a young adult. While a curfew may be reasonable for a college freshman, setting a bedtime seems a bit much. You’re also old enough to start prioritizing work and play. If you’ve been neglecting school work to spend time playing video games or surf the net, start reorganizing your priorities.</p>
<p>College friends and curfews don’t mix well. Get a job and save for staying on campus.</p>
<p>Normally, I’d say no, it’s not bad. However, bedtimes, curfews, electronic restrictions, etc are completely inappropriate for college students and can seriously impact your studies as well as social life.</p>
<p>In this case, I’d try to live on campus even it means taking a gap year and saving up money and/or trying for places with more merit.</p>
<p>Yes, commuting sucks, but it saves you a lot of money.</p>
<p>It depends on your city/town. Commuting can be a nightmare or a norm. However, I do think dorm live is part of the college experience. Even I lived within biking distance from home (~40min biking), I lived in the dorm for all 4 year college and 2 year in grad school. Social live is just a small part of it. You probably should talk to the FA office to see if they can increase the financial aid if you live on campus as the CoA will be higher. Your need will increase with the CoA. They may get you more loan or work study.</p>
<p>I was short in my answer above but really mean it. And I understand your situation to a degree.
My parents were pretty strict and “just didn’t get it” a lot of times. I didn’t have a social life much in high school either (we could argue good or bad on that!) but in NO way would I live at home during college. If I hadn’t been able to be independent, make decisions and test myself in college I’d still be living at home asking for permission from my parents. And my social life would have been nil (change that to zero). Or my pretty good relationship with my family (I was a good kid!) would have deteriorated quickly.
People do commute to save money but it only works where parents let them go and become independent which doesn’t sound like your case.
I did see students who went nuts with new-found freedom–and that is sad too. Going to college is like having a job–keep your priorities straight, work hard, have fun and make your family proud.</p>
<p>If you don’t already have the Direct Loan, get it. Live in campus if you can, unless you can discuss the restrictions with your parents. Perhaps they will be willing to relax things for you.</p>
<p>How long is the commute?</p>
<p>You could stay on campus for the first year or two and make friends, then choose to commute your last two years to save money - or get off-campus housing with friends that might be cheaper after splitting the costs. </p>
<p>I would want my son on campus for the very first year even if he picked a school near by because of the total immersion it so offers. But From my own experience, what I’ve seen, my kids’ experiences, in latter years it’s not so important. Some of my kids and a lot of other students move off campus, the upper classmen dwellings are often more contained, so there isn’t that same communal open living situation. You meet friends freshman year, and you can often find a place to stay the night for future years, get to know where to hang out on and around campus. </p>
<p>A lot of this also depends upon the school, the commute and the family situation. I know a number of kids who commute to NYU right now. Of course they’d rather have an apartment in Manhatttan; who wouldn’t, but the cost is prohibitive and the choices for many of them were a less expensive school and live there or live at home and commute to NYU.</p>
<p>^^^ Absolutely agree. First year is more crucial. For my D, we won’t save much by commuting as we have the need met in state (now with grant & scholarships). Commuting would basically remove the need in CoA.</p>
<p>Take out the full loan, work over the summer, work part-time during the school year…and show your parents that you can manage time and school…that way, if you have to move home later, they will be used to you having your freedom.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the advice guys. The $1500 would be the only loans I would need, everything else is covered by grants assuming I commuted. The $6k is after all fed loans, grants and the $20k the school gave me along with work-study. Where should I look to fill the rest of the gap?</p>
<p>Looking back on the OP I think the wording makes it sound a little exaggerated. I want to live on campus because it’s not my house. I want to be somewhat independent and learn to live like I will be for the rest of my life. My parents are African immigrants so it’s not abnormal for a kid to live with their parents until their mid 20s. That’s not something I could see myself doing. My parents are not totally strict but they HATE parties/hanging out. I can stay up as late as I want as long as it’s in the house.</p>
<p>The commute is about 20 minutes. The $6k is left over after Direct fed subsidized and unsubsidized loans</p>
<p>$6,000 is usually a stretch for a college frosh to earn with part time jobs (and if you already have work-study in your financial aid, that work would have to be in addition to work from your work-study job). Living on-campus in frosh year is generally desirable if the school is a non-commuter school, but not if it results in excessive debt (more than federal direct loans) or excessive work obligations.</p>
<p>Is it 20 minutes by car, or by some other means? And is the time relatively predictable, or variable (in that driving or public transit buses get stuck in traffic jams)?</p>
<p>Commuting doesn’t have to suck. It depends on the circumstances.</p>
<p>One thing is whether or not the college is a commuter school. If a significant chunk of the student body commutes, including a significant chunk of the freshmen, commuting might not be so bad. Remember that most college students actually go to a college close to home and commute. If a lot of people commute, then there are usually ways for commuters to get heavily involved on campus and a different cultural atmosphere.</p>
<p>My sister commuted to college at two different commuter universities (she transferred after her third year). She lived at home with my fairly strict parents, who gave her a curfew of 2 am with exceptions if she requested permission (usually granted). She had a great time in college. She made lots of friends, and she hung out with them late at night in the city and around the area. She found study groups and did an internship and all kinds of stuff. You definitely don’t have to live on campus in order to have a good time and make lots of friends in college.</p>
<p>Even if few people commute, you can still get involved. You just need to plan to be on campus most days, and be ok with stayng later into the evening for club meetings and stuff. You may also need to make friends with some residential students - maybe you can crash there overnight after a party or whatever. (Win-win - you can also just tell your mom and dad that you are sleeping over your friends’ on campus…studying, you know? LOL.) I lived on campus in college, but me and my roommate had a commuter student friend who crashed in our room pretty often.</p>
<p>It looks like you are stuck with commuting. It isn’t likely at all that you could earn $6,000 to make the difference in cost.</p>
<p>So you need a good strategy for enjoying your college experience. Find out now what kind(s) of services your college offers to commuters. There may be a commuting student lounge with book lockers where you can leave some of your stuff, a flexible meal plan so you don’t need to carry a lot of cash or brown-bag it every day, a car-pool board, etc. Talk with your parents about how you will handle the commute. Will you have your own car, or will you share with one of them? Will you be taking public transportation? What will happen if you need to stay late on campus or arrive super early?</p>
<p>And always remember that nationwide, more students live at home and commute than live in dorms: as a commuter, you are having the REAL college experience.</p>