There are two primary mechanisms by which people can attend college: driving to campus, or living on campus. Having been lucky enough to experience both scenarios, I think it’s about time I relay the benefits and downsides of both.
Factor 1: Economics
We are living in clearly struggling economic times. With the economy not recovering nearly as quickly as one would hope, in combination with tuition hikes and cuts in education, money is clearly an issue. And so, if you were to do all that math, you would eventually come to the conclusion that COMMUTING is in fact more economical than DORMING. When I lived on campus at UCSD, it cost roughly 10,498 for 9 months of housing on campus. Of course, this money also includes the mandatory dining plan on campus, which amounted to not even being enough for most people (roughly spending $9 a day). When I lived off campus (but only 5-7 minutes away from campus), I still ended up overspending on food. When you live at home and commute to school you are less likely to “eat out”, and more likely to be spending most of your money on GASOLINE. Even though gas prices are clearly on the rise, food and housing are more expensive in the long run.
Commuting: +1
Dorming: 0
Factor 2: Convenience
Of course, there’s the reality of trying to find parking on campus. Parking was an issue both at UCSD and CSUF, in that there were not enough spots for the amount of permits issued out (which resulted in chaos). Even at CSUF, when I arrive to campus at roughly 8:30 or 9AM sometimes I can’t find parking and have to either park in the neighborhood or illegally across the street. The convenience of not having to deal with parking, the convenience of not having to deal with heavy traffic, and the convenience of being able to walk to your classes in the end is a heavy advantage.
Commuting: 1
Dorming +1
Factor 3: Independence
Living at home often provides the opportunity for your parents to nag you about what you are doing on any given day at any given time. Living on campus gives you the independence needed to spread your wings and ultimately fly away. Of course, this can often result in bad decisions being made – such as engaging in drug use or underage alcohol consumption. Still, the ability to make these mistakes are a given in the process of eventually growing up.
Commuting: 1
Dorming: +2
Factor 4: Transportation
The likelihood of having a car while living on campus is slim, but when it happens it makes things super convenient because you can go places as conveniently as you would like. Unfortunately for most students, the economic ability to simultaneously live on campus while maintaining payments on a car (including insurance, gas, etc.) is less likely. Subsequently students are often “stuck on campus” because of an inability or lack of desire to engage in the usage of public transportation. At UCSD, there were areas to bus to that were conveniently located near campus, but some buses often took 40 to 60 minutes to get anywhere. In terms of also looking for a job, unless you get one on campus, the likelihood of finding and maintaining one off campus is super stressful. Having bused to campus 40 minutes everyday in the summer of 2011 to get to work, I have to be honest in elaborating on how painful it actually was. In the end, the job and pay was worth it, but I wouldn’t do it again now that I have a car to drive with. I was able to get to Phil’s 75 times in my undergraduate career through other people, but dependence on other people can often cause problems. Not to mention if you don’t have a huge network of friends, the likelihood of being able to do so dramatically diminishes. Subsequently, commuters are more able to get far far away from campus than those that dorm.
Commuting: +2
Dorming: 2
Factor 5: Homesickness.
If you are super close to your family and friends back home, the likelihood of being able to continuously connect with them on the same level as before is highly unlikely. (unless you want to be those that go home every weekend, thus defeating the purpose). Instead, you will find yourself drifting away from your high school peers and family members and gravitating towards the people you meet in college. Being a commuter will allow you to more better maintain the balance between family time and friend time.
Commuting: +3
Dorming: 2
Factor 6: Networking
In terms of meeting people in college, you have an easy advantage when it comes to dorming. In addition to all the people you will meet in your dorm, floor, and building, you are more likely to join clubs, and more likely to meet people in the process (because of the fact that you’re on campus 24/7). All this networking will in the long run ensure more friends, and deeper connections being made. This is not to say that commuters are unlikely to make as many friends, but rather there is a statistical and numerical advantage in friendship building on campus.
Commuting: 3
Dorming: +3
Factor 7: Fun.
In the end, it all comes down to what you think is more fun. Personally, my experience living on campus made it 10x easy to connect to people, because of 1) late night pillow talk 2) seeing people more often and 3) the convenience of not having to drive to meet up with somebody. At the same time, college is what you make of it, and if you’re a commuter dedicated to making strong connections with people, you in the end will make those connections. I see so many students at CSUF that are pretty much zombies when they come to college – they come to classes, talk to a few people, and then go home, only to repeat the process the next day. If you’re not making the best out of your college experiences, you are doing something wrong. So, whether or not you commute or dorm it should be ultimately up to you to make college meaningful and “the best time of your life”, although arguably it really shouldn’t be. My 3 years of living on campus and 1 year of living off campus at UCSD brought to my life a ton of memories – both positive, and negative, that I will carry on to the rest of my life experiences. That, in the end, means that dorming has fundamentally changed my life. And until commuting can do the same, I give the final point to residency on campus.
Commuting: 3
Dorming +4
What do you think? VOTE NOW!
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