Around this time last year, I watched as the majority of my friends got ready for their freshman year of college by going dorm room shopping and being ecstatic to finally being on their own, whether their school was as close as 45 minutes or as far as eight hours from home. Me on the other hand, my college was only a 15 minute drive from home, and living in the dorms seemed silly since I lived so close. Ever since I could remember, I always dreamed about going off to college and rooming with someone in a dorm and being able to decorate my side of the room with fun posters and other cool dorm decor. I always longed for the freedom of living on my own and being able to do whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted to. But when the time came to choose a college, I chose the school closest to home since it was much cheaper than my other options and I would also be able to save a lot of money by living at home with my parents. When the semester began, I would go online and see my friends' pictures of them living it up away from their parents having hall parties and 2 am pizza and Netflix study sessions. In the meantime, I was juggling a heavy schedule with 16 credit hours of class, 27 hours of work a week and helping out at home. I disliked living at home since I lacked the freedom the rest of my friends were having. But as I was finishing up my first semester of college, I realized that by living at home with my parents, I had not only one, but several huge advantages that my other friends did not have. I learned that commuting back and forth from home to school had its perks to it.

1. You Save Money, And Lots of It

College is expensive. Even though we all know that in the end all of our hard work will pay off with a great job, but college tuition alone leaves hundreds of thousands of students in huge debt, on top of housing, dining, and other fees automatically added onto your bill at the beginning of the semester. By living at home, you save thousands of dollars a semester by enjoying free rent and food. Sure you won't have the flexibility of being able to do whatever you want at any given time but I mean, who doesn't like the comfort of your own bed with all your pillows and stuffed animals instead of being in a tiny bed barely large enough to fit yourself and your pillow as well as enjoying your mom's home-cooked meals made with love instead of bland-tasting dining hall food?

2. You Get To Spend More Time With Your Family

Like most people, one of the main reasons why I was so excited for college was because I finally got to leave my parents' house after living with them for 18 years and to have my own space and freedom to go grab a burger with fries at midnight if I pleased. But after a couple of months into college, my friends began to share with me that as much as they were loving college and their newfound independence, they were beginning to become a little homesick and would love to come home but could not since they do not own cars. At that moment, I realized how lucky I was to live at home and be able to hug and spend time with my parents, my brother and my dog everyday. Coming from a Latina household, a united family is a huge part of our culture and family comes first before anything else. I am so grateful that I have my family right by my side in the good times and the bad, when I am celebrating that I made the dean's list for the semester or when I am sick or overwhelmed by school or work. Even though every once in a while I wish could be in my own place, I know that I would be much more sad if I had to miss out family gatherings and dinners, all because I am too far away from home or I am unable to make it home due to a test to study for, a project to work on or a mandatory club meeting.

3. You Will Learn The True Meaning Of Time Management

In college, time management is the key to success. One must be on top of homework assignments, tests, projects and other things you have to do for class since sometimes your professor will give you little to no reminder since everything you need to know about the structure of the class is in the syllabus. After class, there is everything else you have to do for your clubs, honor societies, sorority or fraternity, work and other extracurricular activities one must do to keep our resumes looking attractive for future post-graduation employers. When you live in a dorm, depending how far it is from your classes, you can roll out of bed and get dressed at 7:45 am and still make it in time for your 8:00 am class. When you live at home, once again depending how far it is from campus, you have to make time to wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast if possible and make extra time to get to campus in case of traffic. For me, I usually wake up at 6:30 am to get ready for class and leave around 7:30 am so that with the usual morning traffic, I can be sitting in my 8:00 am class at least five minutes before it starts. I also have to plan my all my classes, homework time and extracurricular activities around my work schedule, in which I also have to set aside time to get to because of traffic. Sometimes due to my work schedule I cannot participate in a club because of the time conflict. Since I work in the afternoons and evenings, I plan my classes in the morning (Hooray for 8 am classes! *insert snooze emoji*) so I can still have time for work, school, as well as time to spend with my family, my friends and my boyfriend.

4. You Will See What Being An Adult is Really All About

In the lovely world of college dorms, you do have the freedom to roam around everywhere, but you do have it easy when it comes to class, other activities, and sometimes even work if you do work/study since it's all so close to where you live. When one lives at home, you still can roam around everywhere, only that everything school and work related is 15 to 20 minutes away from your house. This ties into the third point I made about time management. Time management is not only the key to college success, it's the key to success in the workforce and life as an adult in general. I am grateful that even with my hectic, busy schedule, I am still maintaining good grades in school and am 98% always on time for work. Once I move out of my parents' house in two or three years from now and finally have my own apartment, I'll be prepared to manage living independently since I have learned to manage my time and have long prepared myself for the "real adult world" one calls life.

For those of you choosing a college soon, I would recommend picking a school that is close to home since not only will you save tons of money, you will be better prepared to manage your time wisely now and in the future, and you will appreciate that your family is close around for all of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) moments that college brings. At first I dreaded living so close to school, but as time passed, I realized that living at home during college was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and my wallet and future self will thank me greatly for it one day.