Students these days are faced with many difficult choices to make that will affect their future starting at a very young age. As a teenager, growing up comes with different opportunities such as where they will live when they go off to college. Most students prefer to be treated as an independent adult once they graduate from high school, but it also follows with a lot of responsibilities as well. There are many differences in living at home and on-campus such as paying tuition fees, having privacy, and transportation.
The contrast between living at home and on-campus as a college student is being able to afford the expensive tuition fees, whereas living at home the rent will be paid for. When living on campus, parents would have to help support the student in order to pay for the tuition fees that come with the hurdles that they have to overcome to attend college. Living at home while attending college comes with many advantages like not having to pay for the rent unlike living on campus and getting the feel of easing into adulthood.
In contrast, most students prefer to have the ability to enjoy their life and have the experience to live somewhere else besides home. Students living on their own are more capable of showing their parents that they can become an independent adult. While a student that lives at home depends on their parents mostly financially. On the contrary, attending college has some difficulties with sharing space in a dorm with other students and competing for space.
Depending on having the option to either share a room or a single room in college, having privacy can be a big deal. When students share a dorm room in college, they have to compete with personal space for their belongings. While living at home, their study space is already provided for them and organized in the room the way they want it laid out.
Not having to share a room comes with peace and quiet with no distractions, whereas in a dorm room there are competing sounds students would have to adjust to. Living at home with family can be a struggle when having to juggle with studying and doing other tasks which can cause many distractions.
Like said in the article “Living On Your Own vs. Living With Family While In College” the author states, “living alone may be nice for some students because all they want is peace and quiet when doing their school work” (Wołodkowicz). The quote basically states the differences between the positive ways of living alone on campus rather than at home. However, the way a college student has to share a room brings distractions to one another which could affect the way they study.
There is also a contrast between the transportation for college students who live on campus such as walking to class or riding a bus, while students living off-campus may have to be their own transportation. Students have the opportunity to walk to class when living on campus and enjoying the fresh air. This also includes having good time management which allows students to depend on themselves in order to make it to class in a timely manner. They won’t have to worry about the parking fee or the struggle to drive around the entire school wasting time and gas to find a good spot to park.
While living at home, they would have to worry about paying for gas going back and forth along with showing up late and fighting for a parking space close to class. A student’s social life can also be affected due to not living close to the campus and not being involved in communicating with their peers. In spite of this, living isolated from the school may affect the student into not feeling involved in activities, but it can also take time away from stressing over schoolwork.
In conclusion, living at home and on-campus has many differences that college students would have to adjust to. The fact that they would have to struggle with paying the tuition fees to live on campus, the privacy they would have to share, and transportation to class. Colleges and universities have a way to manipulate the students and their parents into getting the opportunity to live on campus which forces them to pay for other things that are not talked about.
There are both pros and cons to the way a college student wants to live during their college experience, but overall it also comes with having independence and fulfilling their financial duties. Every student has the option to live at home while attending college or living on-campus for whichever they prefer and feel comfortable with. Although both choices come with major responsibilities, they both also have benefits that could assist with the struggles that come with being a college student.