<p>I will be attending the University of Washington this fall, and since last week I recieved my response back from my final scholarship I applied for, and now I have officially gathered enough scholarships that will cover all my tuition fees and such for the next four years! Now the only remainder of fees left that I still have to find to pay would be for dorming on campus. My bill for dorming would be $1,850 per quarter, rounding up to $5550 in one year (three quarters). Of course, I definitely want to dorm on campus, but my parents have mentioned about possibly commuting to campus. I live in a suburban area south of Seattle (32 miles south) ~35-45 minute drive (adding traffic, can get up to even two hours!). Busing can work too, but would require three transfers, which would take 1 hour and 40 minutes. </p>
<p>I am already working on research on campus and am going into Engineering, and was wondering, what do you guys think about my current financial situation? I love my parents, but cannot see them put a single penny to my education (I have a younger brother) and I want to be responsible and let him have opportunities when his time comes to apply for colleges. That being said, I told my parents commuting would suck the life out of me with those horrendous rush hour times, and having all 8:30 AM classes, requiring me to wake up every day at 4:30 and getting home as late as 9 or even 10 PM would tire me out completely. I know the answer is very obvious, but I just am worried for some reason. I currently work part time at at a retail store in a local Radio Shack and just sell cell phones, I am going to continue working there part time as I can (possibly ask to transfer to a location near campus). </p>
<p>Anyways, just curious on what you guys think about my situation? I know there are tons of kids who are going to end up paying $40,000 a year versus my little $5,550. Do you guys think this is a right choice on my part to dorm on campus, with my intended field of study and work? </p>
<p>You should post this over on the financial aid forum. Have you been offered federal loans? That would about cover this expense (and if you work on campus and in the summers, you might be able to cut them down and just take the subsidized loans – so no payments due until you graduate, and interest until then would be covered as well and not accumulating). I think you should live on campus. Commuting will take a big chunk out of your day, and gas/car maintenance adds up. As an engineer, you shouldn’t have any trouble paying back ~$20,000 in loans after you graduate (some majors would, but you will likely be fine). So go live on campus (but don’t take a car).</p>
<p>If it takes 1 hour to drive to UW-Seattle in traffic, and let’s even leave an extra 15 minutes for walking from your car to campus, then that means you should leave your house at 7:15. Unless it takes you nearly 3 hours to get ready, there’s no reason you would need to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. You could wake up at 6 am and get ready in an hour, be in the car by 7 and still be on campus with 15-30 minutes to spare.</p>
<p>Even if it took you 2 hours, that means you’d leave at 6:30. You could wake up at 5:30 if you need an hour, or you could shower and pack your bags the night before and leave yourself 30 minutes in the morning to get ready (which means waking up at 6 am).</p>
<p>And do you take classes all day, every day? Why would you get home at 9 pm or 10 pm every day? Even with 5 classes a semester and 15 hours a week of research, I don’t see how you would need to be on campus for 13-14 hours every day. You may need to do some creative organization of your schedule, but it is certainly possible to commute to school 30 miles away, work part-time, do an internship and not be on campus for 14 hours a day or get basically 5 hours of sleep a night. (My sister does this.)</p>
<p>The question is, do you have the money to stay on campus? $5,550 is slightly more than the Direct loan amount for freshmen, so if you don’t already have a Direct loan in your financial aid package you could borrow the loan to pay for the residence halls. I don’t think borrowing ~$5,500 a year is too much to live on campus, so if you want to live on campus I think that’s a good usage of the loans.</p>
<p>However, if you can’t afford to dorm it’s not the end of the world - and I doubt you’ll be living the life you predict.</p>
<p>I live in Auburn, it certainly does not take an hour to drive in the morning to get to the UW with I5 traffic. I have driven to Seattle multiple times in the morning, and this is where I am predicting the long travel times.</p>
<p>My research would be right after my classes (all my classes are everyday, after 4 PM) and from ~4:15 - 7:15 I would be on campus doing research related work. My schedule has few gaps, which can be perfect time to do homework/study. But I also want to add on two hours after my research work for studying material for the next day (for quiz/midterms). </p>
<p>I would get home around 9-10 PM, as there is no traffic at night. But for a student, it just seems really awkward, after sitting in a car driving for 30 miles straight and doing it all again… I dunno who can really do that.</p>
<p>I applaud your sister for keeping up with that, it is something I will try maybe even Winter/Spring quarter! </p>
<p>I will of course work weekends part time for a few hours, that can slowly pay off all the $5550, and am now in the process of applying for more scholarships right away.</p>
<p>You mentioned “I doubt you’ll be living the life you predict”, what do you mean by that? I am just curious that’s all :)</p>