<p>I am so confused whether or not I should dorm or commute for college. any advice/ thoughts would be helpful. </p>
<p>Depends. How far is it? What’s traffic look like? Do you have a car, public transit? How’s parking? Is money an issue?</p>
<p>If you can afford it, and school is 20+ minutes away, I would definitely say dorm. You’ll make a lot of new friends, you’ll learn to be independent, and it’ll be easy to attend classes/events on campus.</p>
<p>I’ve done 40-90 minute commutes for the past 3 summers, but dormed during normal semesters. And commuting was miserable. Traffic was unpredictable, so I had to build in an extra 20 minutes to the commute to make sure I was (usually) not late. Anything outside of normal class hours was a hassle, like review sessions on a Sunday. Hanging out with friends is a lot harder when you have to travel an hour first. There’s nowhere to go on campus when you’ve got gaps between classes. And I was losing ~2 hours a day to commuting… some summers that meant 12+ hours/week stuck in a car/train where I couldn’t do anything productive. But summer dorms were super expensive ($5000 for 8 weeks!?), which is why I always commuted then.</p>
<p>If money is a problem, or if you live right next door to school, then commuting might be a good idea. Commuting isn’t free, you’ve still got to pay for food and gas, but it does tend to be cheaper than dorms. But I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise, it’s good to get away from home. If you’re close enough to think about commuting, remember that you can go back home and visit if you’re worried about missing your parents/dog/whatever.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, you must stay in the dorm. I have so many friends that decided to commute and missed the whole"college experience". Being on campus enables you to participate in college in a different way. When you are commuting you are limited to organized events and cannot partake in spur the moment parties or outings. While nobody can “afford” college, if you can swing the extra cost of the dorm, by all means do it!</p>
<p>I’m obviously biased because I commute – but if the college is within 10 miles from where you live and you can commute there either by public transit or by roadways that aren’t major arteries susceptible to heavy traffic, I think you should consider commuting. </p>
<p>People make fun of commuting because they claim it’s a lot like “leaving a party at 9pm” – but to that people say, it’s also a lot like not being in debt at 21, too. I’ve personally made quite a few friends (more than I ever did in high school), gone to events/parties/dinners and all of my friends who commute as well have done the same. My only major qualm is that I can’t do things that go past midnight because that’s when the trains stop running; but then again, I’m not the one to go to ragers at 3am either. All of my friends and myself included who commute are also going to be graduating without any debt - we can all truly afford college without breaking the bank, taking our parents’ retirement, or asking Uncle Sam and Sallie Mae for help. It’s a very liberating feeling. </p>
<p>Granted, I do think dorms are ideal; just not when they’re financed with loans. It’s great to be able to live so close to your classes, professors offices, friends, sororities/fraternities, etc. Plus I don’t think being away from your parents hurts either. If you actually CAN afford commuting; and I mean really afford, like, the cost is negligible to the cash flow or savings that your parents have, then yes, dorm. However, if it is a financial restraint in any way, just know that commuting is not always the terrible evil that people make it out to be. </p>