I'm close to home.

This is probably the most obvious reason that anyone would choose to go to college in their hometown. Although I live on campus, I'm glad that I'm close enough to go home whenever I want. The best things about going home are spending time with family, eating home-cooked meals, and seeing how happy my dog gets when I walk through the door. Moving out has made the little things about coming home even better, and it only takes a short drive to get there.

It makes the sports even better.

Not only is it fun going to your school's football and basketball games, but it makes it even better when you've grown up watching and cheering for that team. Especially during a winning season, it feels great to be able to say that those teams are from your hometown.

I've made new friends but kept the old ones, too.

Staying in my hometown has allowed me to keep the friends I had in high school, which is important because they will always have a big part in my life. Despite the idea that going to college in your hometown is like "high school all over again", I have met so many new people from all over! Most of my very best friends now are people I had never met before college, and I could have missed out on meeting them if I had gone somewhere else. Staying close to home has given me the best of both worlds: making new friends while keeping the old ones.

I've gotten so many opportunities to make my city better.

College has opened up so many community service opportunities, whether it's a requirement or just because. Being in my hometown makes doing community service so much more enjoyable, because I knowing I'm bettering the place where I live and have grown up. I take so much pride in where I'm from, and I take advantage of any chance I get to make it better than it already is.

I love my city even more.

Even though this is where I've grown up, there are so many things I had not seen before college. I've actually been able to explore the inside of the city and see all the amazing things it has to offer. Not only is the city itself beautiful, but so are the people that live in it, and I never would've realized that if I hadn't stayed here for college.