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Why live on campus during college

As students are going off to college, if it's not too late to decide this, they may be wondering whether to live at home, on campus, or in an apartment. Some colleges, such as Indiana University, require first-year students to live on campus, and some require students to do so even longer. I have been living at home for college and after I make money, I will live on campus. Here are some benefits to doing so that I have researched.


    Image result for college dorm
  1. Close to everything. If you wake up late and need to get to class in 10 minutes, you can do so. No need to waste time driving or finding a place to park, JUST GO!
    Also, need last minute tutoring or time to study in the library? Simply walk over! Also, does your school rarely close for anything? My school almost never has snow days (and we have a HIGH commuter population! I don't know what that population is, but it's high!) If your school rarely closes, at least you can be a little safer by walking rather than driving just up the street. This minimizes your driving even more!
    Finally, you may be closer to your job. You might be able to get a job on-campus or close to school. That means less time and money is spent on driving and gas bills.
  2. Close to activities. In relation to the last pointer, you will have an easy walk to activities. The time you would have spent driving if you lived off-campus is cut out. You also don't have a curfew, so you can go to plenty of activities. When you live off-campus, you have to consider how late you are willing to drive. If you live at home, your family may not be too happy if you stay out too late. This won't be an issue living on-campus.
  3. More time to study in groups. If you live at home, you may need to either get up really early or stay up pretty late to meet up with friends. This means group projects will be harder to complete because your availability is pretty limited. If you happen to live in the same dorm, you may be able to do your project in the commons area of your dorm, or you might be able to spend more time using resources that may only be accessible in the library, such as a model of the pancreas.
  4. Fewer Bills. If you live at home or in an apartment, you will have more gas to pay for and you will have to pay for electricity and water bills. If you live on-campus, these prices will be factored into your rent bill so you will not need to worry about this. You also won't need to drive as much, so you will be spending less on gas and other car bills. While living on-campus often doubles the bill of the already-expensive decision of attending college, it may be worth your money and you will be able to save some money if you choose to live on-campus.
  5. Fewer Distractions! One of my pet peeves (pun intended!) is that when I did my homework, my cat was always going "Meow! Meow!" really loudly and would not stop until I got up, went into another room (usually our guest bedroom), and petted her for a while. Unfortunately non-guide pets are not usually allowed on campus, but when you have a distracting pet, this can be a good thing. (Since my school is close, I will soon live on-campus and come home weekends. A downside is that you may not know what to do with the pet, but chances are you can leave them at home and know they are in good hands!) You also won't have rowdy siblings to drive you crazy! You may live in a noisy dorm, but you can often find a place to study in quiet in the library. 
  6. Your parents might back off. I love my parents, but my mom is honestly such a worrier. She didn't like when I signed up for a 7:30pm class and wouldn't be getting home by 9:30. In addition to that, while I don't have a specific curfew, my parents would not be happy if I didn't get home until midnight. She won't have to worry about me because I won't really leave school (on weekdays at least) except for work. 
  7. Academic support. If you are a student in college, you are almost always welcome and encouraged to different academic supports, such as tutoring and Writing Labs. However, you may need to go out of your way to go to such services. For instance, you may need to drive home on a rainy night if you take up such a service while living at home.
  8. More time. I live about 40 minutes from my school, and I know people who drive even further! If I went to school 4 days a week and 40 minutes each way, that's over 5 hours I could have spent studying each week! On top of that, although our school is pretty small, I usually spend at least 10 minutes looking for my car! I would probably free up about an hour a day (even more!) if I lived on-campus. In college, every second of free time counts because you're pretty busy!
    Not only do you get more time due to driving, but your parents aren't there to give you a curfew (though sometimes dorms give you one). My parents do not give me a specific curfew, but they wouldn't be too happy if I didn't get home until 10:30!
    Finally, by having no curfew and less driving to do (only between school and work, not between school, work, and home), you have more time available to work, which is good because many college students work in restaurants and retail places, which often have long business hours and are sometimes open 24/7.
  9. Better statistics. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/19/students-who-attend-college-full-time-even-one-semester-are-more-likely-graduate
    https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/09/01/why-living-on-campus-is-good-for-students
    Both of these websites point out that students are more likely to graduate if they live on-campus at any point in time, even for one semester.
    https://www.collegebasics.com/going-to-college/benefits-of-campus-living/
    This website shows that students who live on campus get better grades, make more friends, and have more access to a social life. I joined a worship organization when I started college and many of the members lived on campus. In fact, we had bible studies in the commons room of the dorms, so many of the members lived on-campus and I felt the dorm community myself. At my school, though, we are surrounded by rural areas where people live with their families and attend IUS so they can live at home, so I didn't really even think about living on campus prior to CRU. I was interested almost immeaditly in living on-campus because people seemed to enjoy living on campus and just have better grades and a better social life. (To my surprise, when I first brought it up to my parents, my dad was okay with it and my mom totally supported it!)
Let me know if this helps! I hope that reguardless of your choice of housing, you are successful and have fun in college!

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