<p>I know that it's important to dorm in order to make friends and get the "full experience", but I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it. It's going to take all my resources just to pay tuition, books, and fees. The college is only 20 minutes from my house, so it shouldn't be a problem getting there. I can just sleep at home and then pack food and hang out on campus all day, since the required meal plan will be a few thousand dollars every year apart from housing, tuition, fees, books, and insurance. And if I change my mind later and come up with the money, I can apply for a dorm, right? I'm obviously leaning towards the dorm, but I'd like to get some more opinions to weigh in on. Anyone out there commuted to their campus and was fine with it?</p>
<p>If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. It’s really not worth going into debt or stressing out about paying for it, especially when you can easily live at home.</p>
<p>You can have whatever experience you want to have at college, and you can make as many friends as you want without dorming. Many commuters have tons of friends on campus, and many students in the dorms don’t have any friends. It’s all just about what you want and what you’re willing to do. So stay involved–join clubs, start study groups, go to campus activities, invite people to get something to eat or see a movie or whatever. If others invite you to do things, say yes, even if you’re not sure about it because you never know.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the hardest thing about commuting is just the time you spend doing and the ease of getting on and off campus. If you’re commute is an hour long, then it would be a lot harder to meet up with friends from on campus to get dinner or go out. If you’re close and have a car or other means of getting to campus easily, then it’s not as much of an issue.</p>
<p>Meant to say, “obviously leaning toward the commute”, not the dorm. But anyways, thanks for your input! I’ll keep it in mind.</p>