Living at Home vs. Living

Living at Home vs. Living in a Dorm

When attending college in or nearby one's hometown, a college student is confronted with the issue of whether to live at home or in a dorm room. Three main factors contribute to the decision whether to live at home or in a dorm. The first factor is expense; out-of-pocket expenses for a student living at home are generally less, but overall expenses may recommend staying in a dorm room. The second factor is convenience; dorm rooms are obviously closer to campus and class rooms, but there are some drawbacks to a dorm environment that may make it less convenient than living at home. The third factor is privacy; students in dorms generally have more privacy than students living at home with their parents, but this calculation must examine individual potential living scenarios. While this essay will not provide students with an answer regarding their own individual living situations, it will help provide students with a good starting-point for helping determine their appropriate living situation. There are benefits and drawbacks in any living situation, and the main areas where living at home and living in a dorm room differ are in expense, convenience, and privacy.

One of the main considerations for many college students is money, or, rather, the lack of money, and, in many scenarios, living at home is less expensive than living in a dorm room. There are several reasons that living at home may be cheaper than living in a dorm room: food is generally cheaper when bought in bulk; living at home allows a student access to home cooking; the family's rent or house payment is not increased by a student staying at home; and nominal changes in utility usage are still less than the amount of dorm rental. However, it is important to realize that living at home has hidden expenses. Many dorm rooms include "free" high-speed and/or wireless internet connections, cable, local phone service, electricity and water usage. Furthermore, living at home implies a commute to school, and commuting costs must be considered. These may include gas, car payment, insurance, tolls, or public transportation. Without looking at the numbers involved, it is impossible to determine which scenario is more cost-effective for the individual student.

The next factor to consider is convenience; dorms, which are generally located on or immediately adjacent to campus, are generally going to be more convenient than living at home. First, dorms are certainly more convenient when it comes to getting to and from classes. Therefore, it would appear that dorms are a more convenient alternative for students. However, getting to and from class is only one concern for the average college student. College students living at home will probably be able to eat home-cooked meals without leaving their residences to do so, have access to private washers and driers, and easier parking access. Therefore, depending on the length of a commute, living at a home may actually be more convenient and provide a student with more free-time than living at a dorm. Once again, one must consider a particular scenario to determine convenience for a student.

The final factor to consider is privacy; dorm rooms offer students more privacy from their families, while living at home may permit students more privacy in their bedrooms. For many students, the move to college marks the beginning of adult life, and living in a dorm room is an important step towards independence from the family unit. Living in a dorm room certainly provides a student with a greater sense of privacy from the family. However, most dorm rooms involve sharing space with another student. For a student that has come from a background of having his or her own bedroom, this sharing space can feel like a tremendous invasion of personal privacy. Moreover, an invasive roommate can hamper privacy much more than a permissive family. Therefore, one must look at a particular home scenario and a proposed roommate to determine which scenario would be more advantageous for student privacy.