Is attending college from home the best option?
Is your university of choice located in the same town you grew up in? Considering the rising price of college housing, going to school away from your home town should be one of the only reasons why you shouldn’t live at home. I’m sure that whether you’ve moved all over the country or lived mostly in the same place like myself, we can all say that we had our own personal room that we grew up in. For some people, this can also serve as a place to live while attending not only school, but college. With its location being only a few miles from campus and set in a house in the suburbs, my personal room at home is a perfect example.
When I moved into this room over a decade ago I definitely didn’t imagine myself living here while attending college. Many students probably feel the same about living with their parents but I think it’s safe to say that all students would feel the same about paying more for housing every year than tuition. The only financial disadvantage of living here is the cost of transportation to and from campus which is negligible compared to the cost of on campus living.
The room itself is quite simple and fulfills all the needs and requirements of a college student. In one corner is the single sized bed which is just the right size for the room. Across the room and against the opposite wall is the dresser right where you’d expect it to be. With that, there is just enough space left over for a closet, computer desk, bookshelf and a bedside table. Overall, it provides a little more space than what you’d get in a typical dorm room but still feels very cozy and welcoming, especially with the carpeted flooring.
In addition to what you would usually find on the walls such as calendars, maps and picture frames, there are also many Japanese decorations. On the wall facing the bed is a series of headbands with traditional calligraphy. The adjacent walls are decorated with tapestries and banners with more calligraphy. All these come together to add a very unique atmosphere to the room that also serves to subtlety represent who I am. Almost all rooms, including college dorms, do this in some way or another whether it’s by the posters and decorations on the walls or by how clean or dirty the floors are kept.
All of this is made visible during the day by a window looking out towards the front yard. Unfortunately there is nothing to see that would be worth keeping the blinds open besides the street, the neighbor’s house, a large pine tree and the occasional squirrel. The noise from the outside that is able to pass through the window can be a problem due to the kids in the area and even more frustrating is the fact that the neighbor has to park his diesel truck about ten meters away from the room at about five AM every morning. For other students living at home though, the kinds of disadvantages can vary. It all depends on where you live and what preferences you have.
An overwhelmingly common preference for incoming freshman is to live away from home. People pay a lot of money for the experience of living in a college dorm with a brand new area or town to explore, not to mention the new people that they will be living with. This can be a very memorable experience and it is completely understandable why a vast majority of freshman choose this route instead of living at home which can be seemingly boring in comparison. Does anyone really want to repeat the daily routine of going from school back to the same home for another 4 years? Perhaps attending college from home is something that can give you a financial advantage for your freshman year but should be grown out of by the time you become an upperclassman.
When I compare the short comings of this room to those that I can imagine would inevitably come with living in a college dorm though I can be thankful for the fact that I happened to grow up in a college town. Paying around ten thousand dollars a year to be paired with someone completely random is a huge gamble and there are so many rules and restrictions regarding what you can do, and what you can have in the dorms that ironically, you would probably be subjected to less rules just living with your parents. What it really comes down to though is whether you would rather pay for the experience of living on your own in a new place with new people or whether you are willing to settle for something that is much more practical and affordable.
