Rent is cheaper, more room, privacy and you don’t need a car to live off campus at Auburn - Tiger Transit hits a lot of the apartments and have been told you will never be late to class because of the bus - it apparently is very punctual so you need to be too. I wanted my son to stay on campus all 4 years because of the convenience and I thought he would take advantage of the rec center (which he does all the time now) and the different events going on on campus all the time. However, as a sophomore he’s odd man out on campus and is really ready to have his “own place”.
Interesting as all the schools that both my kids applied to primarily in NYS and in New England required freshman to live on campus-this includes several Ivies, all private colleges, SUNY schools. The school younger d went to required both freshman and sophomores to live on campus. Other schools we toured with that requirement included Oberlin and CMU, American, Northwestern.
NYU and Fordham University do not require freshmen to live on campus.
OP- I think you need to have housing requirements much lower on your priorities list. Pick schools that otherwise seem to be a good fit. The student body at those schools will likely match you in many ways. If all freshmen are required to live on campus you will be with like minded students.
I thought most schools did not have housing rules for freshmen in this day and age. That was for the old days when 21 was the age of majority. That said, I still think it is an excellent idea to live in the school’s dorms your first year. After that it will depend on what many students do. At UW-Madison, for example, currently it is mainly freshmen and some sophomores who live on campus and most will live in apartments close to campus (those commuting from home often need to drive to campus). This is a very liberal campus and dorm rules reflect that.
Do not attempt to plan out all four years of college before you even get there and discover how things work where you are.
@wis75 said
I’m not so sure. We tend to respect the preferences of kids who want to live on campus all four years. I have actually steered some students on CC away from my alma mater (Cornell), even though it might otherwise have been suitable for them, because it only guarantees housing for freshmen and sophomores.
If we respect the preferences of the kids who want to live in the dorms throughout college, maybe we should respect the preferences of those who want to live off-campus throughout college.
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This student wants to live OFF campus but could be ignoring best fit campuses for his academics and many other facets of his life. Housing choices should not be the major determinate. The concept of “respect” is totally irrelevant. Respect is something to be earned, it has no place in this case. I do not respect uninformed preferences- there is nothing earned about it.
I LOVED living all 4 years on the same dorm floor (3 of the years in the same room with the same roommate).
BTW- Cornell (and Ithaca) brings back great memories. I lived there for a year in the 70s and again in the 80s. As a teen finding the reservoir along 6 mile creek, and the Cornell and Ithaca College coeds who used to sunbathe there, was like nothing I had ever seen before 
Campus culture determines the type of housing desirable at different stages of one’s college career. My alma mater- UW-Madison- has so much more convenient off campus housing (one of son’s apartments was next door to a building he had a class in- probably 5 minutes from bed to classroom) than in my day. Many, but not all, live in the public dorms freshman year. Some elite colleges require on campus living freshman year and you don’t choose the school for its dorms from my experience with parent comments on CC in the past. Do not let housing remove otherwise excellent fit schools from your list.
I chose dorms over commuting from home some 8 miles. And couldn’t stay on my first dorm floor because my dorm was one of the first to go coed (all guys took over my floor) back in the early 1970’s. The distance travelled makes a difference in choosing whether to live on or off campus. There is so much “after hours” discussion and activity one misses if not there (a friend was walking distance to campus but never could be involved in those night sessions- her parents never would have understood).
Dorms offer new students instant companions and the luxury of clean bathrooms, no need to cook and other nice amenities. Also an experience you will likely never have again in your life. Worth it.
It may be an issue if there is not enough dorm space for all who want it, and the local housing market is difficult to get a place in (i.e. where even resident students may end up in housing requiring significant commuting because there is not enough near the campus). But that is the opposite situation of what the OP of this thread is looking at.
Agree that it is usually desirable for frosh at primarily residential colleges to live in the campus dorms.
“If we respect the preferences of the kids who want to live in the dorms throughout college, maybe we should respect the preferences of those who want to live off-campus throughout college.”
I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’s the same thing. I consider living in the dorms to be an educational experience. A student who’s trying to avoid an educational experience merits different advice from adults than a student who’s trying to maximize an educational experience. At the end of the day, it’s the student’s decision, but I’ll push back a little more on some preferences than on others.
My friend’s daughter is living off campus due to her medical condition. She certainly has missed out on freshman bonding, but unfortunately she didn’t have a choice. If OP doesn’t have a very compelling reason to want to live off campus, it is a college experience to live in a dorm, but if OP has a medical reason then most schools would allow him/her to live off campus. Apparently Cornell does not require freshmen to live on campus.
@oldfort said
This was also my impression, but I couldn’t find confirmation on their Web site. It wouldn’t hurt to e-mail Admissions and ask.
@hanna said
You’re right, of course.
But living off-campus is an educational experience, too – one that both of my kids had as upperclassmen, and I’m very glad they did.
I’m more concerned that if a student doesn’t live on-campus as a freshman, that student may miss a lot of opportunities to make friends. But there may be reasons for living off-campus. For example, a transgender student might feel more comfortable off-campus, no matter what accommodations the university is making for people in that situation who live in the dorms.
I agree that living in a dorm is part of the experience, but some just can’t afford the experience. At my daughter’s school living in the dorm is required of freshmen and sophomores, but often the sophomores get a waiver just because it is so expensive - $13000+ for room and board when living off campus can be done very cheaply for about $300/mo.
University of North Florida requires dorms for a year no matter how close you live to the school. My friend tried every which way to get a waiver for her sons but the school wouldn’t budge - so they didn’t go there. The OP may have reasons to want to not live in a dorm other than just preference. Most schools I think will make an exception for medical reasons if accommodations would be difficult but not just because the student wants it.
I think almost any school allows you to live off campus, including freshman year.
If finding one is really hard for some reason, I know Michigan allows you to live off campus.
" room and board when living off campus can be done very cheaply for about $300/mo." - Perhaps that is the case for some students, but it not the norm in most college towns.
From what I’ve seen, 12 month leases are often a wash with dorm costs … or sometimes less. The big savings is on food, IF the student cooks most meals (does not eat out much).
I’m surprised at how many colleges allow off campus housing for freshman. I bet I visited three dozen colleges with my three kids and I can only think of a couple that allowed that. Our Pennsylvania State U’s (not PSU) allow it for students that live very close, but my experience was that living off campus was more the exception than the norm. My understanding is that students that live on campus feel more connected to the college community and do better academically which is why many colleges are building more alternative housing for upperclassman. Two of my three kids will have lived on-campus for all four years. Here’s more discussion - http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/08/29/should-students-live-on-campus-or-off/living-on-campus-is-fun
I agree that I found most freshmen live on campus and it would be an exception, and require a waiver, not to. Those waivers might not be that hard to get, but it is still expected that freshman live in dorms on campus.
“I agree that living in a dorm is part of the experience, but some just can’t afford the experience.”
Yes, but that doesn’t seem to apply to the OP – the colleges we suggest might be totally unaffordable based on tuition alone.
Another note on affordability … if a family is receiving need-based FA, the extra costs might get covered with more FA (ie EFC stays same). This is speculation on my part, but FA-eligible families should investigate school by school. Perhaps others can add examples.
Perhaps it may have to do with whether the college is set up as a commuter school versus a residential school, and whether it is in a location where many students can reasonably commute. For example, the CSU system in California is intended to be commuter-friendly, with admission preferences for local area students, and financial aid policies that make them very inexpensive for low income commuter students. Only a few are predominantly residential, and some of these are in sparsely populated areas where there are relatively few students in reasonable commute range (e.g. San Luis Obispo, Monterey Bay, Humboldt, Chico). Some CSUs do have frosh-live-in-the-dorm requirements, but typically with exemptions for students in commute range and various categories of non-traditional students (older, married, with children, etc.).
Of course, most students at the community colleges are commuters, rather than residential students.