Do you think its important to live on campus your

[lilibet]

I lived at home and commuted to save money. I'd push my child to live on campus though, I feel I did miss out on some things.

[h]

Sept 27, 2012 16:58:35 GMT -5 v said:

I'd go back to a tiny dorm room in a heartbeat if I got to relive all the fun I had in them

Me, too! I loved every minute of life in my tiny dorm room. So much.

[pugz]

I am still close friends with many of the girls that lived on my hall freshman year of college. I made friends in class and activities too, but the girls I lived near became my closest friends.

[bronxgirl]

I think leaving my parents' house and living on campus was huge growth opportunity for me. Even though a dorm isn't total independence, it's still a big start to becoming an adult. My brother went to a commuter school and lived at home the whole time and I don't think it did him any favors.

[Deleted]

I miss college. So much.

[karinothing]

It seriously never occurred to me that conversation was on campus vs. parent's house. I really assumed the initial post was on campus vs. apartment off campus.

Like miso, I think the important part is living not at home.

[whitepicketfence]

I will definitely encourage our kids to live on campus. I will also encourage them to study abroad. My dad wouldn't allow me to go to school out of our area since there are 3 colleges in our city and then wouldn't allow me to live on campus. I feel like I missed out on so much. I'm jealous when I read about other MMers and their awesome college experiences.

[miniroller]

(Also on campus- Highly Recommend!!)

Really though, I think she'll be alright if she is very social. Which the fact the she WANTS to live @ home makes me think she's probably not...
So yeah, decision made- if she's @ all introverted, she MUST live on campus to immerse herself in the college experience. Good luck.

[Willis Jackson]

Sept 27, 2012 15:40:09 GMT -5 ESF said:

Sept 27, 2012 15:29:07 GMT -5 @iheartcosmos said:

my university didn't have any housing requirements like that (in fact, they didn't have enough housing and encouraged students to live off campus), but they apparently want to institute it.

My university has a big "commuter" population-- but most of those commuters actually lived in the city with other students right off campus. My sorority house was considered "off campus", but it was across the street from classrooms.

That's interesting. Every school I applied to, including UMass, required freshman to live on campus or at home. I wonder if it's more common in New England.

Dh and I went to the same school in Boston. There was no on-campus requirement. I lived in the dorms the first two years, but DH lived in an off campus apartment all 4 years.

[cowboyjoe]

On campus for sure.

Most of my good college friends were from the dorms. My husband actually lived on my floor freshmen year.

It was such a good experience for me. I really want my kids to have that.

[hannamaren]

Sept 27, 2012 17:10:54 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

I think leaving my parents' house and living on campus was huge growth opportunity for me. Even though a dorm isn't total independence, it's still a big start to becoming an adult. My brother went to a commuter school and lived at home the whole time and I don't think it did him any favors.

To me it is the perfect transition

Also, it depends on the town. If it is a college town where lots of people live in apts and alll the people in the city revolve aroundthe college it is different than goingto school in a big city. If my kids went to Univ of Toronto or some school in Montreal or NYc, I would insist on dorms. Closer to school and not lost in the city.

[hannamaren]

And I lived on campus for all 4 yrs of my undergrad because it was cheaper than an apt. I could have afforded an apt but it would have been crappy.

[Deleted]

Sept 27, 2012 15:40:09 GMT -5 ESF said:

Sept 27, 2012 15:29:07 GMT -5 @iheartcosmos said:

my university didn't have any housing requirements like that (in fact, they didn't have enough housing and encouraged students to live off campus), but they apparently want to institute it.

My university has a big "commuter" population-- but most of those commuters actually lived in the city with other students right off campus. My sorority house was considered "off campus", but it was across the street from classrooms.

That's interesting. Every school I applied to, including UMass, required freshman to live on campus or at home. I wonder if it's more common in New England.

I went to school in the South and it was required for me the 1st year as well. And 50% of the upperclassmen did as well.

Some of my closest friends are my dormmates/roommates. I am really happy I lived on campus.

[fakejew]

Sept 27, 2012 14:15:00 GMT -5 flygirl said:

first year of school? Or would you rather they live at home if its in the same city so you can save money?

me--I'd rather my kid lived on campus

If it's reasonable, on campus for sure.

[ejpint]

On campus. In the dorms or similar (sorority/fraternity house, etc.).
My H lived at least away from his parents, but stayed in an apartment 15 mins from campus all four years. His college experience sucked a little.
My college experience was just as much about the friends I made and the activities I got involved in as it was the classes I attended.

[Awkward]

Sept 27, 2012 18:17:07 GMT -5 miniroller said:

(Also on campus- Highly Recommend!!)

Really though, I think she'll be alright if she is very social. Which the fact the she WANTS to live @ home makes me think she's probably not...
So yeah, decision made- if she's @ all introverted, she MUST live on campus to immerse herself in the college experience. Good luck.

Very much THIS! I'm pretty introverted and I'm sure if I'd lived at home or off campus I never would have met any of my friends. Forcing myself to be social in the dorm was huge step forward for me.

[Deleted]

I have really mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I had a ton of fun living on campus my first year of college, made some great friends, and I have a lot of wonderful memories that I wouldn't want to trade. I had a tough time transitioning out of high school and into college (partly because my first love was still in HS and we broke up a month before I went to college...). I think moving out of state and being forced to become independent and move forward was probably good for me.

On the other hand, academically it would have been better for me to stay home and go to a 2 year college first - or attend a local 4 year and end up part time or taking time off or whatever. It would have been cheaper, I could have saved a ton of money, and I had no idea what I "really" wanted to do for a major/as a career so my first few years of college were a waste of money, time, and I didn't do as well as I could have/should have because I was too busy socializing and partying and my head wasn't into it. It would have been a smarter decision to get some gen eds out of the way cheaply and then go off to a university to finish my degree.

I don't think living in the dorms is necessary or valuable unless you start out as a freshman like everyone else. Moving into the dorms for the first time at 20 or old would have been a nightmare. By the time I moved out after my 2nd year I was so over sharing a small space, noise in the halls, crappy food options, limited parking, the list goes on.

[Deleted]

Sept 27, 2012 18:53:09 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

And I lived on campus for all 4 yrs of my undergrad because it was cheaper than an apt. I could have afforded an apt but it would have been crappy.

thats interesting, it was far cheaper to live off campus (even in the sorority house!) than on-campus at my school.

[dirtyred]

Our oldest went to school close to home and wanted to commute so he could ride with his girlfriend who wasn't going to live on campus. Even though it cost us about eight thousanddollars, we forced him to live on campus. He hated us at the time, but now is so thankful that we made him do it.

[milkrations]

Sept 27, 2012 19:04:48 GMT -5 Awkward said:

Sept 27, 2012 18:17:07 GMT -5 miniroller said:

(Also on campus- Highly Recommend!!)

Really though, I think she'll be alright if she is very social. Which the fact the she WANTS to live @ home makes me think she's probably not...
So yeah, decision made- if she's @ all introverted, she MUST live on campus to immerse herself in the college experience. Good luck.

Very much THIS! I'm pretty introverted and I'm sure if I'd lived at home or off campus I never would have met any of my friends. Forcing myself to be social in the dorm was huge step forward for me.

I think living on campus helped me to step out of my introversion. Had I gone to a school close to home or had an off campus apartment, it would have been very easy for me to go to class and then go home, missing out on the social aspect of college (and not just the drinking and partying part). It's kind of hard to refuse a group movie night/ice cream social/etc when your RA goes around knocking on doors to round people up. My school had a variety of activities in the evenings that are easy to participate in if they are a few minutes walk from where you live.

So, in spite of the tiny, cramped space and terrible caféteria food, I loved living in the dorms and think I benefited from that experience. Plus, I met my husband in the dorms, so it really worked out well for me.

[fakejew]

Sept 27, 2012 19:25:30 GMT -5 @iheartcosmos said:

Sept 27, 2012 18:53:09 GMT -5 hannamaren said:

And I lived on campus for all 4 yrs of my undergrad because it was cheaper than an apt. I could have afforded an apt but it would have been crappy.

thats interesting, it was far cheaper to live off campus (even in the sorority house!) than on-campus at my school.

I'm not sure if it was cheaper but at my school campus was simply the place to be. There was nothing off campus. The people who were off campus either were late to the sign ups or were major partiers for whom RAs woul be a major hassle.

[babyblue712]

Honestly, I hated living on campus. The dorms were expensive (more than an apartment would have been), overcrowded, loud, and I hated sharing a bathroom. You could never get any sleep because someone was always throwing a party and playing loud music lat at night. Studying was nearly impossible for the same reason.
For the money and sanity it would save, if they wanted to live at home and commute, I would have no problem.

[mbcdefg]

I commuted to college and kept living at home.

Sometimes I was jealous of friends who dormed just because they were "independent", but I got involved in activities within the first few weeks and made friends right away. Which was totally unlike high school.

And I was either in the Student Union with my clubs all the time, working on campus, or at softball practice/games, so I basically just went home to sleep. My mom said that sometimes it felt like I'd went away to school because I was barely home.

[sillygoosegirl]

Financially, at my college the dorms were a bit cheaper than the nearby apartments. But if you lived in the dorm you were required to be on a cafeteria meal plan that cost $8-$12/meal depending on whether you were on the 12, 14, or 16 meals/week plan. So it was easy to make up the difference in food. I would have moved off campus my senior year if I'd realized how much my parents were paying for me to eat because I was living in the dorm! Cooking wasn't even required to save money, off campus students (or their parents) could put cash on a declining balance card that would allow them to eat at the cafeteria for around $5/meal! The meal plans were such a racket. I'm embarrassed that it took me over 3 years to do the math on them... And all my classmates were shocked by it too. You mean we actually could afford to eat Thai takeout every day if we lived of campus??? Why didn't anyone say so before???

[fakejew]

Also, on-campus can mean not having a share a bathroom with 20 people, etc. Though freshman year that is usually what it means.

My last two years of school (on campus) were in a townhouse.

[Deleted]

Sept 27, 2012 20:49:03 GMT -5 fakejew said:

Also, on-campus can mean not having a share a bathroom with 20 people, etc. Though freshman year that is usually what it means.

My last two years of school (on campus) were in a townhouse.

I think a lot of schools have suite style bathrooms now, too. Mine was that way (12 years ago, so maybe it isn't so new lol). I just shared with my roommate and one other roommate pair. Which was actually really fun because we got to know our "suitemates" pretty well too.

Sharing a room that size with another person (even an awesome other person) was much more difficult than sharing that bathroom!

[sunny]

the first year I would prefer they live at home. saves money;)

[moolarkey]

On campus, it's a great transition from being under mom & dad's care to being on your own. Both my kids went to school out of town and had to live on campus but even if they'd have chosen a school in our city, they would have lived on campus. I commuted my first 2 years and it was ok but I really wanted my kids to be on campus and it was what they wanted too.

[honey987]

Depends on the college, but for most school definitely live on campus. It's a good transition to start gaining some experience to living on your own. My college required it for freshman year unless you lived very close to campus. The radius was 1 mile, which mostly consisted of student housing so every one pretty much lived on campus. Most people didn't have cars either.

It was such a great experience and was way cheaper than renting an apt nearby. I gained some of my best friends that year and the unlimited access to everything on campus was awesome. I didn't take advantage of many of those things once I left. Parking was too much of a pain.

[aspentosh]

I think it's important for a kid to get out on their own and live on campus. First year of college makes sense for that.