<p>Hi,
I will be attending UW-Madison in fall 2015. My home is close to the campus (20 mins drive). Currently, my plan is to go to college from home – no Dorms. I was just wondering the pros and cons of this decision. Dorm is 15K a year and I am not sure about my work opportunities during freshman year. Also, I have a car and it’s a 20 mins drive. My parents are partially helping me with tuition. (If I decide to stay in dorm, its added pressure to my parents) I have a sister who will be going to college in a few years. Taking all these factors into consideration, I made the decision to stay home.
What will I be missing? Will I get enough time for projects/assignments? What about social life?
What are the pros and cons of my decision? - please help.</p>
<p>I think you are making a good decision. You are close enough to hang out as much as you like on campus and you likely will meet friends who are dorming and maybe when you do you can do an overnighter once in a while. I just can’t see it worth the money when you don’t have it that costs a huge amount over 4 years, and cafeteria food gets old. Also it is a luxury not to work the first year. I think it would be better to think about moving out later when you might really want your own place and figuring out how to afford a cheaper shared place as a jr or sr.</p>
<p>I don’t understand about getting enough time, you are only 20 min away. You might have to train your family that you are on college student schedule now and don’t participate in all the usual things because you may be staying late at the library or studying with a friend or study group or socializing at school.</p>
<p>We are similar, maybe a bit closer.</p>
<p>UW students get a free metro pass. Does your family live near a bus line? Parking at the campus is expensive and inconvenient. Whether you live at home or on campus, riding the bus is a better choice than driving. If you aren’t too far away, and if you live near one of the bike paths, riding a bike in good weather is a reasonable way to get back and forth from home to campus. We are about 4 miles away and lots of professors and students in our neighborhood bike to work year round. Many others take the bus. My eldest lived in a dorm at UW and when he needed to use a car, he rode the bus home to get it and grabbed a meal while he was here. He sometimes came home to eat meals on weekends as well. UW doesn’t have an all-you-can-eat meal plan. DIning is all ala carte, so that saved a bit of money. Even though students get discounted meal prices, home meals are still cheaper. </p>
<p>Part time jobs on campus or close to campus are easy to find if you want to work during the school year. </p>
<p>If you can afford to live on campus, it’s a lot of fun. But if you can’t, then living at home can work out as well.</p>
<p>$15,000 sounds awfully high, even adding in food. A double runs $7,500-8,500 per year, not counting food purchases.
2015-16 rates: <a href=“Rates – University Housing – UW–Madison”>https://www.housing.wisc.edu/residencehalls/rates</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://transportation.wisc.edu/files/StudentFAQ.pdf”>http://transportation.wisc.edu/files/StudentFAQ.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://transportation.wisc.edu/files/14_15ParkingMap.jpg”>http://transportation.wisc.edu/files/14_15ParkingMap.jpg</a></p>
<p>Students have access to just a couple of lots. Permit to park in 34(Observatory Dr.) or 41(on Campus Dr. across from Stock/Babcock) is $838. Permit for the Lake St. ramp(also used by the public) is $1199. The adjacent ramp is $956. Two other lots that students have used will have limited availability in the next year due to construction.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is traffic. Do you live west? Monroe will be resurfaced next year I believe,so all that traffic will be diverted to University and Beltline. And parts of the Beltline are also under construction still heading into next year with lane closures and barrier walls everywhere, particularly Midvale to Whitney section. </p>
<p>If you end up living at home, at least on a bus you can read and probably hop off fairly close to class. In the car, unless you have audio lecture recordings to multitask, that will be a lot of time spent just driving and looking for a parking spot, then walking to class from the lot.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input. We live on the east side and can take I-94 all the way to Aberg or take Atwood/East Wash. My mom works downtown, so she can give me rides (if timing works out). Hope I can stay home for 2-3 yrs and save some money… I also prefer home meals </p>
<p>I grew up 8 miles from campus, a college friend walked to campus eons ago. If finances allow I highly recommend staying on campus your first year. Currently many second and up students live in apartments so being away from campus then is like many do. My friend missed out on a lot of spontaneous things with friends by not being right there. So many late night discussions, walking places et al. This is the only time in your life to experience life in the dorms fresh from HS. Living on campus gives you chances to go “home” between classes. How do you know you prefer home meals when you have not experienced diverse menus?</p>
<p>I had scholarships and worked later to avoid commuting. The campus is a world apart from the rest of Madison and suburbs. Met a lot more people from elsewhere by living in the dorms, you learn a lot about life outside of your hometown by interacting casually with others.</p>
<p>Please don’t say that a dorm is 15K a year as that is incorrect and may discourage other students who want on campus housing. My daughter lived in a dorm, Chadbourne, for two years, and with food spent no more than $8700 per year. </p>
<p>See my link above. Next year Chadbourne is $8,142, not counting food. That is a lot less than $15,000, but I don’t think my S could survive 9 months on $550 food! Maybe 6-7 weeks with serious budgeting. Tuition is currently frozen, but housing costs are not. They continue to rise.</p>
<p>Parent of Junior here – while he spent more than what I think was the UW estimate of $1200 in food when he lived in the dorms, it was not a whole other order of magnitude, maybe $1800 for the year. Kids living in the dorms get subsidized meal rates, and it is cheaper than you would think. He also didn’t spend nearly as much money on books or other incidentals as the UW budget estimates. </p>