By Ashlyn Zimmer
Congratulations! Your high school years have come to an end. While there are many paths you can take after high school, many choose to attend a college or university. One of the many questions to ask yourself when deciding on what school to attend is where am I going to live? Typically, if your campus is far away from home, your options will include living in a dorm or an apartment. Everyone’s situation is different, so let’s lay out what each living situation would look like in order to see what you believe would best fit you.
Many universities offer on-campus housing - also known as dorms. These typically are around 100-200 square feet living spaces and often are shared with a roommate or two. Although these rooms are quite compact, there are many benefits to living in dorm rooms in college. First of all, the upfront costs of living in dorms are typically cheaper. According to a study done by the College Board, at four year public schools, a dorm room costs around $10,800 a year. Similarly, private schools are a bit more expensive and average to about $12,210 a year. Depending on the place of residence, this can save you tens of thousands of dollars compared to renting out an apartment. Another benefit to living in a dorm is that it’s one of the ‘baby-steps’ to independent living. Many of your needs are taken care of for you: meal plans eliminate chores like doing dishes or cooking, and unlike apartments many utilities such as cable, internet, water, and electricity are free in a dorm. In addition, your friends are quite literally footsteps away from your front door, and common spaces in the dorm building make it easy to hang out and have fun with friends, but still being close to your bedroom.
Although dorms may seem quite perfect - cheap, some chores taken care of for you, and close proximity to friends - an apartment shouldn’t be out of the question when deciding where to live when attending college. One of the biggest advantages of living in an apartment is the greater privacy and space. Unless you are lucky enough to snag a single dorm (living in your own space, no roommates), chances are that you have very little privacy in your dorm. Whereas in an apartment, you typically will have your own bedroom and bathroom. One of the concerns of living in an apartment may be the cost; however, it can be quite easy to find a roommate to split the costs of rent and still not sacrifice your privacy to a large extent. Also, if you plan out your food expenses, it can be a lot cheaper than the prepaid meal plans that the university offers. Upon all of these great advantages, there are also a lot less rules when it comes to living in an apartment; there is no need to ask your RA for permission to have a friend over for dinner or to spend the night, etc. You are much more independent, and there is no RA there to “parent” you.
As stated before - everyone’s situation is different. There is no right or wrong answer to where you should live in college. It is completely down to what will fit your needs the best. Occasionally, some college or universities will force freshmen to live on campus for at least their first year, so in some cases it won’t be your choice until you are older. However, it is always good to keep in mind what you think would be your best option. What do you think? Dorm living or apartment living?
Works Cited
Underhill, Allison. “Where Should a College Student Live? Pros, Cons, and Costs of Dorms, Rentals, and More>.” Real Estate News and Advice | Realtor.com®, Realtor.com, 9 Aug. 2018, www.realtor.com/advice/rent/dorm-vs-rental-where-should-college-student-live/.
Unigo. “Dorm vs. Apartment: Which Should You Choose?: Unigo.” Unigo.com, 2 June 2015, www.unigo.com/in-college/campus-life/dorm-vs-apartment-which-should-you-choose.
After reading this I'd never known which one is more better for college students to chose from. Personally, I'm not a big fan of dorm living because I'm always a private person. However, this article is very insightful especially for those who are considering going to a university where there are a lot of dorms. Which would you prefer living in a dorm or apartment? Which would your reccommend to someone?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the overview about life after high school. As I looked at all of my colleges I spent a lot of time looking at dorms and apartments in the area to work out that cost as well. I think I will choose to be in a dorm for my first 2 years for sure but after that I would like to try and become a little more independent in my apartment. I also didn't even consider RA's so thank you for that!
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the different living options, it has become clear to me that this is actually a difficult decision to make. I had always thought of living in a dorm for my first year of college, but maybe an apartment is the better option for later years. It was interesting to see the pros and cons of each option out side by side and it really showed me what to look for, regarding housing, in the near future.
ReplyDeletei feel like you missed a potentioal option where to live in college and that is renting a house with your freinds which can be really fun. and more based on your needs and wants of living. your ideas are still good with living in dorms or an apartment but i feel there are more options other than yours but it really is important to go of what you want if you want to live independant or not. things like this. thanks for letting me know.
ReplyDeleteI think you chose an interesting topic to write about. thinking about were i'm going to life while i'm at collage is something i'v never thought about before but this really helped lay out the benefits of both.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Ashlyns question, I think it's important to live in a dorm for at least a year, this will give you the full college experience since a big part is living with roommates. I am actually looking forward to living in a dorm because it just seems really fun and is an exciting step into growing up. There are a lot of benefits to both a dorm and an apartment but I think living in a apartment is for juniors and seniors in college. This is where they are almost done with their college experience and should be able to live on their own and be able to pay the rent for the apartment.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this topic, considering I’m a senior and will be going to college very soon. You did a good job in differentiating living in dorms vs. apartments and including the benefits, as well as the negatives for each. I actually didn’t know that you have to ask an RA to have people over when living in a dorm. That’s very good to know. I, personally, think the better option for me is living in an apartment because I like my space and privacy.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on commuting to college because it's only 15 minutes away but it was interesting to see what the options would be if I were staying on campus. I never looked into how much dorms are because I pretty much knew I wouldn't use them, but it just makes me understand why my parents told me to commute because $10,000 is a lot to drop on a dorm when it's only 15 minutes away from your house.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great and super relevant topic to cover! I've been looking at colleges a lot lately and this is one of the biggest topics I need to figure out. This really helped me lay out the pros and cons to living in both. My question for you is How many roommates are too many? I think personally a dorm for the first 2 years and then an apartment for the last 2 is a nice middle ground for me.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that living in an apartment could be a lot cheaper than living in the dorms,but I feel like it just depends on how much the apartment is and roommates. Also like you said college meal plans are pretty pricey and it can be much cheaper to make your own food. I've always known I've wanted to live in the dorms for the first year so I could meet people and get that college experience even though it's going to be pretty expensive for a very small room and community bathrooms. Then after that get a house or an apartment with multiple roommates to make living expenses much cheaper. You included things I never considered so great work!
ReplyDelete