College Chat: Dorm Life Pros & Cons

Most college grads will tell you that living in the dorms was a great, if somewhat trying, experience. The camarader of being constantly surrounded with your fellow students offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bond outside of the classroom, but can also be a bit overwhelming. A great deal of your child’s happiness depends upon where they choose to live during their first year in college.

If you live near the campus, commuting is always an option and is likely the best financial choice. However, students living at home rather than in the dorms miss out on many opportunities to form lasting relationships and, consequently, it may not be the best choice for your child, despite the obvious advantages.

Going off to college is also about more than just education. It’s about taking the first step towards independent living. As a result, students who stay home miss out on one of the most significant aspects of their collegiate experience. So, if it’s a financially viable option, you should definitely encourage your child to live on campus, even if you’re a block away from the college.

Your child may be able to choose between living in a dorm or an apartment, depending on the school. I would suggest he choose a dormitory, at least for his first year, as being in a university building will make things easier. In later years, it will be easier for him to choose between the simplicity of university housing and the increased independence of choosing an apartment.

Another extremely important question is whether or not to live alone or with one or more roommates. The vast majority of college students have a roommate their first year and have for decades. Though students might have grown up with siblings, living with strangers can make the adjustment to sharing one fairly small room, and using communal bathrooms, somewhat challenging.

If your child is highly sociable, having a roommate could be a great experience. He'll have someone to let him in if he locks himself out and bring him food when he's sick, possibly forging friendships that can last throughout college or even a lifetime.

However, especially for an only child to having his own personal space, being thrust into a novel living situation with a roommate may not be ideal. While it will certainly teach him how to share, he may find his roommate completely annoying, playing loud music or snoring when he tries to sleep, having unruly friends around at all hours, invading his personal space and property, not respecting boundaries and making it difficult to study in the room, which can be a major problem for students who don’t like to go to the library.

With these things in mind, it’s also important to remember that it’s only a year, and no matter how bad things turn out, it’ll be over with in no time.

A California native, James Freedman, is currently a student at Johns Hopkins University. Visit jamesfreedman@familymagazinegroup.com to send him a message.

Source: College Chat: Dorm Life Pros & Cons

01.07.2006

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