Whenever I meet with a student, one of the key things I try to impress upon him or her is the importance of campus life. Whether you’re going to college 3 miles or 3,000 miles from home, your campus needs to be your second home. I firmly believe that in most cases, you’re going to get more out of your out-of class experiences than your in-class ones. Now, that’s not knocking good faculty, or the importance of a strong academic program, or the importance of going to class. But I gained more important life skills from chairing on the activities board and working on my college radio station and doing my internship and serving as an RA and spending time at my fraternity house than I did in any of my classes.
Why all this? Because Business Week Online says college residence hall costs are rising. I guess I’m not surprised; everything else costs more, so why shouldn’t on-campus housing? Realistically, though, the benefits of learning to live with a roommate and with other people who are different from you is worth the cost. I spent many nights my freshman year arguing with Buffalonians over the correct pronounciation af words like “orange.” (If you’ve ever been involved in an upstate-downstate New York argument, you know where I’m coming from. One girl not only insisted on her way, but she insisted it was one syllable, something like “ornj.”)
If you can hack it, live on campus. If you can’t, for whatever reason, don’t be afraid to make friends and spend your evenings and weekends hanging out on campus. Your college friends will be your best friends; mine are, and probably always will be, because we have so many shared life experiences. Definitely worth the cost.