<p>I live 10 minutes away from UCLA by car, should I pay for housing or just commute? I'm afraid that I won't be able to have the "college" experience if I commute. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>good question...</p>
<p>i would pay for housing. you get to live out on your own, you get the college experienceand if you ever need your laundry done, home's just ten minutes away. ;)</p>
<p>if money's not the issue, i recommend you to live on campus.</p>
<p>if you only live 10 mins away. I would just live at home. i mean yea you won't get the college experience of living in the dorms but it costs a lot of money and everything so.. well whatever you want to do.</p>
<p>any other opinions?</p>
<p>If you are 10 minutes away, I don't understand the point of living on campus. From what I hear, parking would be near impossible to get. The point is, housing is pretty expensive, and you can save a lot of money by not living on campus. However, if money isn't a factor, then live on campus. But, I would just stay at home, it would make things a lot easier in the future.</p>
<p>what do you mean by making things a lot easier in the future?</p>
<p>Well, if you have to take out loans to help pay for any of this, then you can avoid that whole process. Basically what I'm saying is, if you can afford it go for it, but it seems to make more sense financially if you have to take out loans.</p>
<p>money is not too big of a problem. It's just that my parents want me to stay home so that they know what I'm doing. They would rather have me stay at home. (since it's cheaper:)) But I think I would prefer UCLA housing more.</p>
<p>bump......</p>
<p>Time to grow a bit. Live on campus the first year and see how you like it.</p>
<p>Part of the college experience for most kids is growing on their own, away from their parents. Social stuff, relationship stuff. Maturing. Living a bit. You'll learn a lot without even entering a classroom.</p>
<p>I think that for most, the non-academic aspect of college is at least as important at the academic.</p>
<p>"It's just that my parents want me to stay home so that they know what I'm doing."</p>
<p>Especially for that reason, live on campus. (And I'm a parent of a freshman).</p>
<p>ah, the answer i was looking for, thanks sblake7.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Have a great year at UCLA. :)</p>
<p>I'm a transfer student via PCC and never really had the "college experience" since I went to community college right out of high school but since coming to ucla living on campus is priceless get the loans out and find a way to pay for it. The campus itself is alive at night and theres always events going on to the wee hours it seems every day. If that's not incentive enough read this post about my experience about having done both living on campus and commuting:</p>
<p>If you live on campus life is easy. HOwever if you commute it can be hell (especially without a parking permit) I live about 16 miles away from campus so decided to move out of my aprtment (bad idea since I only paid $600/month for my own room and a parking spot)</p>
<p>When I lived on campus Id wake up around 8:00 for a 9am class get the shuttle take a class. Go to Ackerman for an hour then go to section for another hour. Get out around 12 grab a bite to eat either at cooperage or bombshelter read the daily bruin. Go to another lecture for an hour or so and done for the day by 2:30. Id grab the shuttle again go to my apartment get a snack or watch some tv for a couple of hours then I would walk to the wooden center at 5pm stay there to 7pm then go to powell to study until 9pm grab the shuttle back to my aprtment browse the web, read newspaper or some mtv then sleep by 11pm. That was the life now though since Im commuting</p>
<p>I wake up at 6:00 for a 9am class because although I live close to campus traffic is cr@p in LA. My first quarter without a parking permit I had to circle campus a few times to find a spot the one id find was usually two hour limit so I got my schedule to allow time for me to get classes done 3 days out of the week. I would park around veteran walk all the way to haines from veteran sit in for lecture for about an hour and a half then Id race to veteran to avoid getting aparking ticket. No gym, no socializing, no food just drive back home or to work which usually took between an hour to two hours itself. Grades reflect that also. I went from my first quarter of having an A-, B, B- to my second quarter having C+, B+, B so yeah dont do the commute if you can avoid it. Im loking to moving back on campus. SHould mention I am a '05 transfer student from PCC so Im still getting used to life on campus</p>
<p>Hope this helped. Some other good points were brought up about living on your own such as gaining the real world experience or at least a taste of it. UCLA is far from the real world but I meant to say you are "forced" to cook, clean, wash, and make a living on your own. Yeah at first my diet consisted of top ramen and popcorn but then Id start trying to cook (I had no meal plan lived in strathmore apartments) you definately are more independent. You also get to socialize more with roomates and fellow students in westwood village or on campus. You will regret not living on campus as Im now kicking myself for giving up the opportunities I had. to be fair I have saved loads of money, cleared my debt and cancelled my loans since moving out but the pros def outweigh the cons.</p>
<p>I would recommend you live on campus because it'll definitely help you network with other students and start off with a strong GPA. According to the On-Campus Housing office, freshmen who live on-campus tend to do better academically and participate in more on-campus activities than freshmen who commute to campus. :rolleyes:</p>