Living On Campus vs Commuting?

Student Lounge College Life
1

I’m starting to think about where I want to live at my university next year. I am in a dorm right now (figured that was ideal freshman year to make friends), but for sophomore year, I can choose to either continue living in the dorms, get an off-campus (but still very close) apartment, or commute 20 minutes from my house. I would love to live at home, I feel like I am successful there and I love being with my parents. However, living on campus may be a better way to stay involved with my university. I have joined 2 clubs, so I do have an extracurricular tie to my school.

Essentially, what I’m asking is what are people’s experiences with commuting or staying on campus, and which do you prefer? I would love to hear some other opinions.

Thank you!

2

How much does cost differ between the various living options and matter to you? (Living with parents is not free, since you consume food and utilities there and probably have more transportation costs, but is usually significantly less expensive than living in the dorm or in your own or shared off-campus housing.)

3

My parents are very generous people and cover food/gas for car. Long term, it would be far less than what living in the dorms or off campus apartment would be. But, at the end of the day, money isn’t a huge issue. It still would be great to cut costs though.

4

If your commute is by driving a car, is traffic predictable (including during commute hours), and is parking convenient?

5

My commute could either be by car (on freeways, traffic not horrible depending on when you go) or by train (there’s one that goes along the coast and ends up at my school). There are many parking structures available on campus.

6

If your commute is easy, you prefer living with your parents, it does not limit your academic and extracurricular options (in a scheduling sense), and it costs less, then it makes sense to do that next year to see how it works out for you.

7

There’s also a cost to the parking permits to consider. Insurance, gas, etc.

8

For sophomore year, I would stay in a dorm. I would not move off campus until Junior year.

9

@bopper, why do you say that?

10

@bopper I am also curious.

11

As a parent, i see that sophomores are still figuring things out. You have learned about your college and where everything is. Now you can start to move on to joining more clubs/doing research/getting involved. YJunior year you are ready to start being independent and buying your own food and cleaning up after yourself…