Kennesaw State University is a big school and people from all around the metro Atlanta are in attendance. I was born and raised in Woodstock, Georgia, so my home is no more than 20 minutes away from school. This led me to decide not to live on campus, and that comes with its perks.
First, since I still live with my parents, I’m really only paying for class tuition and gas to drive to school. Given my modest paycheck, this is a substantial advantage. Living at home isn’t an option for everyone, so this isn’t universally applicable. It does, however, bring me to my next point: food. I don’t know how to cook; I can make a turkey and cheese sandwich and heat a frozen pizza, but that’s it. Living at home means I can still eat my mom’s cooking and at no cost. Besides the obvious draw of free food, the food is also more varied than food on campus. Sure the cheeseburgers at The Commons are fantastic, but you can’t eat the same thing for lunch every day five days in a row. I learned that from working at Dairy Queen. Living at home gives easy access to free food you won’t find on campus.
Additionally, living on campus would require the use of dorms. There are two drawbacks here: moving and people. Moving into a dorm requires just that: moving. Packing up your stuff at home and unpacking it again on campus, and you don’t even get to keep your room for four years? Moving that frequently does not appeal to me. The other issue of dorms will resonate with the introverts in the audience. While some schools have single dorms, odds are you will end up with a roommate.
Is there an issue with having a roommate? Possibly. First you must go meet said roommate, which is what causes the panic. For introverts, meeting someone new can range from mild uneasiness to soul-gripping dread. This is compounded when you will have to see this person for more than an hour at a time twice a week. You have to live with them. This puts considerable stress on an introvert to make a good impression. Living at home means you only need to deal with your immediate family. This may not be entirely ideal, but it can certainly be better than the uncertainty of having to live with a stranger, for a substantial amount of time, who you may or may not get along with.
The next point builds off the roommate issue. Living at home means you have free reign (more or less) over what your room looks like. When sharing a space like an apartment or dorm, the contents of the space must be agreed upon by all the occupants. One person may have several posters they enjoy while the other occupant may prefer a single framed photograph or painting. There could be a conflict as to the subject of posters or how many posters is “too many." Living at home typically means full control over your room, and still having parents to take care of complicated adult things like mortgages and cooking. Living on campus certainly has perks for some, but others are plenty content to stay at home.
