Just a few weeks ago, I wrote that community colleges aren’t always a good choice even if they save money. I went on and on about how I wanted the “college lifestyle” and “iindependence”. As of today however, I’m a hypocrite. Sort of.
I requested to be released from my housing contract. The university approved it.
In that post, I mentioned that it was going to cost me around 8 grand to stay in the dorm. When I signed housing papers three months ago, it was easy to act like this was no big expense. As the start of school got nearer though, I realized that 8 grand is a big commitment. Not even counting interest. I just wasn’t comfortable with paying that much money to live in a cramped room 35 minutes from my house.
I have other goals that would be negatively impacted by living on campus. I want to study abroad. ASAP. If there’s a program that works for me starting sophomore year, I’m probably going to take it. Study abroad isn’t exactly cheap so there’s no sense in adding more student loan debt to my plate with on campus housing. Besides study abroad, I just want to travel for the fun of it. The less debt I have, the more cash I’ll keep to pay for it.
Personal reasons also played a part in this decision. I was never exactly thrilled with the idea of living in a dorm, but I went along with the typical graduate-high-school-and-live-on-campus process. This is the template lifestyle that a lot of people are talking about these day and it wasn’t really what I wanted.
Unlike a lot of recent high school graduates, I’m not dying to get out of the house. I have healthy relationships with my parents and sibling. My parents aren’t strict – I literally do just about anything I want to do. I just try not to be an ass about it, i.e. No slamming doors at at 2 a.m. Of course, there are other benefits too. I don’t have to do laundry or dishes. I do plan to help out more, honest! Regardless, I have a good thing going here. I’m not ready to change it. (This is the part where the Internet can call me spoiled and selfish!)
Just as our finances change over time, so do our goals and instincts. What we thought was a good decision a few weeks, months, or years ago might not be so smart today.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Saving $8,000 a year is a good thing. But, you might miss that sense of community that you get from living on campus. It’s not all about freedom and being away from the eyes of your parents.
You won’t be able to go back to your room and crash between classes. You’ll spend an extra hour a day commuting.
There are definitely a couple of people on my campus who commute, but nobody knows them really well!
Join as many clubs/groups as you can because you won’t get to know your neighbors.
How about living off-campus, but near your school?
I think this sounds like a wiser choice. And if my experience is anywhere near typical, you don’t really miss out on much…just more nights sleeping on floors and couches than the on-campus crowd.
There’s many things I regret about my time in university (should have done more studying, less drinking), but I never felt that I was missing out on anything by living with my parents.
I’m hoping so! I have commuting friends and friends staying on campus, so I should be able to get a taste of both.
Quite a few of my friends are commuting too and we’ve already decided that we don’t want to be the loners who only come to school for class and leave right away. I should also mention that my school has a ton of commuters. So it shouldn’t be hard to find people with similar situations to mine.
Living off campus but closer to the school is a no go. I’m not quite at the point where I’m comfortable living completely by myself and there isn’t time to find suitable roommates.
Love the discussion guys!