As spring break approaches, it’s already time to start thinking about fall semester: what classes you need to take, how you’re going to pay for it and where you’re going to live. With that in mind, I present to you my top nine reasons to live on campus.
1. Convenience
You’re never more than 10 minutes away from anything on campus, be it food, class, fitness or fun.
2. Transportation
When you live on campus, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to get to class, how long it's going to take you to get to class or where to park once you finally get to campus. Granted, if you bring a vehicle to campus you’ll still have to face the parking struggle sometimes, but at least it won’t be every. single. day.
3. Utilities
All of your utilities — water, electric, heat, WiFi, cable, laundry — are rolled up into one neat and tidy bill so you never have to worry about leaving the lights on (unless you care about the environment) or scrounging for quarters so that you can have clean clothes.
4. Friends
By living on campus the chances are that you’re going to meet quite a few people you wouldn’t have otherwise. One of my best friends is a girl I met during move in weekend who lives two doors down from me. When you only live 10 feet away from another person, the opportunities to hang out with them and form friendships are abundant.
5. Cleaning
The only thing you’re responsible for is keeping your room somewhat tidy. You simply don’t have to worry about scrubbing toilets or bleaching out showers while living on campus.
6. Food
You don’t have to buy groceries. Unless you want to buy groceries. But they’re not a necessity. And you don’t have to cook. Ever. Unless you want to. Your meal plan is your ticket to all the food you could ever possibly need/want/desire.
7. Furniture
Your dorm room comes stocked with the necessities: bed, desk and chair, closet, small bookshelf. Chances are, you’re not going to be able to fit too much more than that into a dorm room, so there’s no need to go drop several thousand dollars re-furnishing an apartment.
8. Because what is a security deposit?
When you live on campus, there’s no need to worry about “security deposits” or “renter’s insurance” or “credit scores." What do these things even mean? I don’t know. Why wasn’t I taught about these things in high school? Learning about how to rent a home/apartment probably would have been much more useful than learning about parabolas.
9. Roommates
If you move off campus, you’re hopefully going to be living with someone who is your friend or, at the very least, someone you know. However, this could put a lot of strain on the relationship when it comes to tiny, constant irritations like, for example, if one roommate is constantly doing the dishes and cleaning and the other forgets to pay their half of the rent on time. Is moving off campus really worth ruining a friendship?
With these things in mind, I strongly encourage you to think about living on campus, whether you’re in your first or third year come fall semester. We’re all just fake adults right now anyhow, so let’s enjoy this time fake adulting together.
