<p>Just recently one of my close friends proposed that we could get an apartment with another one of our close friends. We'd all be first-year students except at least one of them will already have their AA and only have two years of college left. The other girl is still unsure if she will get hers. I'm excited about loving in an apartment with them and the apartment is great, as well, but I'm worried I'd be selling myself short. I wouldn't be able to experience "college dorm life" like I wanted to. I would be off-campus and I'm afraid I wouldn't meet as many people that I would meet living on campus. I don't want to be isolated goin with them rather than really exploring what I want to do. Can any of you guys give me experiences that you have had living with your friends (or not loving with them) or what the perks are of living on or off campus, please?</p>
<p>If money isn’t an issue, I would highly recommend living on campus. You can always room with your friends after your first year, but living in a college dorm is a great way to meet people and get accustomed to college life.</p>
<p>However, where I go to school, living in an apartment is significantly cheaper than living in a dorm. If this is the case for you, and if money is an issue, you may want to consider living off campus. Just make sure these friends are people you can stand living with for an entire school year (although it’s really hard to tell until you actually live with someone.)</p>
<p>Thank you. Because the apartment are affiliated they are around the same price of dorms. That’s a good idea, though, waiting until my second year. I just hope that I make the right decision.</p>
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<p>Wow, I’ve never heard of that being the case.</p>
<p>At my school apartments are also waaaaay cheaper than dorms. The dorms are ridiculously overpriced, you can get a really fancy apartment here for about the same cost as an average dorm.</p>
<p>^^^^ this. Not to mention at my school you have to be at least a sophmore and over 21… so no freshmen :3</p>
<p>I know it’s true with the apartments around the university I want to go to. Many people decide to live 15-30 minutes away because it could save them $2000-3000 a year. Since my dorm money isn’t coming out of pocket I’m just going to live on campus.</p>
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<p>Uh, that’s usually the case. Especially if you’re able to share the apartment with others. Room & Board costs for schools are usually way overpriced, but the pro is that the cost doesn’t come out of pocket right away like rent would - unless you specifically determine a payment plan with the school, which few have the financial capability to do.</p>
<p>As a very basic example: R&B at School A is 9,000/yr for a 2 student room (or equivalent). For 9 months of school (because they obviously don’t house during the summer), the student gets a 9k bill - to each of them. Area A has a 2 bedroom apt for rent for $1200/mo. Split between 2 roommates comes to $600/mo for each of them or $7,200 for the entire year, not just the school year (if they so chose to work full-time during the summer to pay for rent or whatever). They each just saved $1,800 and the interest they may have accrued from a loan. Even if they had to pay for utilities themselves (which most likely would only be electicity - garbage and water are usually covered within the rent), then they would still come out on top. If you so choose to live by yourself in a studio with variable amenities (like how many cheaper dorms actually are), then even better/cheaper.</p>
<p>Of course, some fear, like the OP, that doing the above would have them miss out on important social interaction - viably so. My point is that I would guesstimate that 9/10 living off campus will be cheaper, even if ever so slightly, than living on campus. So I think it’s very heard of.</p>
<p>^^ Yep, yep. Very much true. The sad fact is my friend doesn’t even want to live in a “cheaper” place that has nice features. She picked a luxury apartment that is about 650/room. Sadly not getting any beneficial trade off with that one.</p>