Published February 2013. Financial aid and student loan rules change often, so some details may be out of date. Ask us about your situation.
While high school seniors are beginning to evaluate acceptance letters and make up their minds about where they are going to attend college in the fall, they also have to begin making big decisions about what amenities they plan to take advantage of on campus, and whether paying extra for certain elements of the college experience is really worth it in the long run.
One storied component of the college experience is living on campus during your freshman semester. Many students think that if they don’t live on campus their first fall at the school, they’ll miss out on a major social aspect. However, dorms can cost students thousands of dollars and often aren’t worth the investment.
Jennifer Calonia, a recent college graduate, wrote on the Breaking Up With Debt blog that if she had to do it all over again, she would have lived with her mother during her first years of college rather than acquire roughly $14,000 in student loan debt by living on campus. Despite receiving grants for school that covered her tuition at a local four-year university, Calonia still had to pay extra to live in a dorm that featured few of the creature comforts she would have enjoyed had she simply chosen to live at her parent’s’ house – less than 10 minutes from campus.
At Calonia’s state school, living in the dorm cost her roughly $5,500 for one academic year (September through May) not including other living expenses such as food.
If students choose to live at home, this is also a great way to begin saving to help in paying for college once they graduate, as not everyone qualifies for grants and scholarships that will completely cover tuition for a four-year education.