Campus Dorm or Student Apartment: Which Housing Option is Best for You?

So, you’ve been accepted to the college of your choice!  Congratulations!  If you are like most incoming freshmen, the summer after your senior year of high school is filled with nostalgic get-togethers with your friends, shopping for your more independent life away from mom and dad, and trying to figure out the online registration system at the University.  There are lots of decisions to make, and one of the more important ones is where you will live next year.

Assuming that you won’t be living at home, there are two types of housing to choose* from:

• college dorm
• student apartment near campus

Be self-aware and even brutally honest with yourself as you consider the options, each of which has pros and cons. This is a big decision.

College Dorm Life

Life in a college dorm can be one long party:  Late nights, hours of play time, junk food, and noise.  You will share a tiny room and bathroom.  There will be little or no privacy, noise at all hours, and plenty of temptation to stop studying and party.  There may be a small kitchen on your floor, but for the most part, you’ll be eating in the dining halls using a cafeteria card. 

Dorm life works well for people who:

• have strong self-discipline and good study skills
• can sleep through anything
• have been sharing a room with a sibling for years already
• don’t require time and space to be alone regularly.

Dorm life is not a good choice for people who:

• have poor study skills
• can’t sleep or study unless the house is quiet
• struggle with weight issues (the junk food alone will add 15 lbs)
• have weak immune systems.

Student Apartment Living

All around most college campuses in the last few decades, apartment complexes designed especially for students have sprung up. These complexes offer 9 or 12-month leases, are close to shopping centers, and often have gyms. Many have an hourly shuttle service to campus.  Two, three or four students split the utility and cable costs in addition to rent.  You can cook for yourselves and entertain people on your own terms.

Student apartment living is good for people who:

• need more privacy than a dorm offers
• are able to live independently: wake up on time, create a study schedule, shop and cook simple meals
• need or want a more orderly lifestyle than found in a dorm
• have responsible prospective roommates.

Student apartment living is not good for people who:

• frequently oversleep and miss appointments
• can’t shop for or cook simple meals
• are not able to keep to a budget and pay bills on time (here, online banking and automatic bill pay are good options)
• do not have responsible prospective roommates.

It’s wise to think carefully about your needs, habits and personality at this point.  Be honest with yourself.  Remember, you’re only making this decision for your first year; next spring, you can make a different choice, if you wish.

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* You may not have a choice:  My younger daughter was something like 845 on the waiting list for a dorm going in to the second week of August.  It seemed highly unlikely that she’d get in, so we went ahead and got her an apartment.    Luckily, she’s mature and responsible, and has done very well on her own.

Dorm photo by mikepetrucci, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0

Apartment photo by Johanna.B,Creative Commons Attribution 2.0