One of the biggest choices you’ll have to make when moving away for college is where you’re going to live. Dormitories have their own set of unique ups and downs, but for many, off-campus living is the best way to go. Not only is it cheaper, but it offers a host of benefits that’ll improve your life in the long run and prepare you for the future.
People might tell you you’ll miss out on social experiences by living off-campus, but this simply isn’t the case. Plus, you’ll be offered some truly unique experiences that on-campus folk could never even dream of acquiring in their dorms.
Here are six of the top benefits you may not have considered that come with off-campus student housing.
1. Learn Some Important Life Skills
Living on your own or with roommates in a place that you’re responsible for is a feeling unlike any other. You’re responsible for the first time for the cleanliness of the place, for feeding yourself, and for all the chores necessary to keep your off-campus home in tip-top shape. It’s time to learn how to grocery shop and do laundry!
This may not sound like a benefit, but it is. Everyone needs to learn these skills at one point or another, and the best strategy is to learn them early in life so you have time to get better at them. Plus, the feeling of pride and responsibility you’ll gain when you clean your own dirty dishes or get that first load of laundry done all by yourself is unmatched.
Who knows, you may even learn something about yourself in the process, like how much you enjoy cooking and perfecting your own meals, or how to decorate a room in your very own style. You’ll learn how to manage your time better and the importance of a good night’s sleep after a busy day of homework and chores. You’ll also learn how to manage your money, pay rent on time, and deal with the ups and downs of life.
Things won’t always go your way, but the best way to learn is to make mistakes and grow from those mistakes. You’ll truly learn who you are living off-campus, and how you can best live with yourself. It’ll really give you an appreciation for the little things, while giving you skills you’ll use for the rest of your life.
2. Enjoy More Space
If there’s one major downside to living on-campus, it’s a lack of space. The majority of dormitories and even grad-student housing on-campus is cramped, affording you only exactly the space you need to live. This puts a definite strain on your ability to decorate, cook, exercise, and just generally live in comfort.
With off-campus housing, you can pick a place that’s big enough for your needs. Your bedroom no longer has to double for a living room, and your bathroom will actually have room for a shower. No communal washrooms for you!
Many off-campus apartments include a balcony, washroom, kitchen and living space as opposed to one cramped room you’ll get on-campus. A lack of space can be claustrophobic and add to the stress you’re already probably feeling from homework and the general school experience. Plus, many off-campus apartments offer a balcony, and the ability to get a little fresh air without completely leaving your building is more of a plus side than you probably even realize.
And if you’re living with a roommate or two, you’ll have space from them as well. Ideally, you’ll love living with a roomie, but admittedly, people can be a bit much at times. In a shared dorm, you’ve got very little space between you and your roomie, but off-campus you’ve got your own room for when they might start getting on your nerves, or when you just need some quiet time to study or unwind away from people.
Space really is one of the top benefits of off-campus housing, and a truly understated one at that.
3. Off-Campus Student Housing Is Cheaper
Living on-campus means you’re going to be spending more money. Not only do you need to pay for the living space itself, but the lack of in-house amenities means you’re also going to need a food plan, which is usually a requirement when living in a dorm. Living on-campus is decidedly not cheap, and you’ll find you have a lot more flexibility with off-campus housing.
Living off-campus means you’re going to be able to find a place that matches your budget. If you’re living with a roommate or roommates an off-campus house can be much more affordable, with many places offering complimentary amenities like water, electricity, and even WiFi! Plus, no food plan, meaning you eat what you want when you want for however much you want.
There are some definite benefits to living on-campus, such as not having to remember to pay rent every month, having furniture provided to you, and even the meal plan, which means you don’t need to learn how to grocery shop. But all of these things come at the cost of freedom, space, good diverse food choices, and extra fees.
There are plenty of websites that’ll help you find affordable places for rent around your college campus, like those offered here: https://www.davisapartmentsforrent.com/fountaincircle/.
If you hunt around you’ll be able to find an apartment that charges much less for a full 12-months of rent than the six to nine months you’ll be paying for per year at a dorm. One comparison done at the University of Guelph shows that eight months of living in a dorm would cost $11,744, while living off-campus would only cost $6,760. That’s a pretty huge difference, giving you a lot more money to spend on furniture, groceries, and all the other freedoms that off-campus living will provide you.
4. More Freedom
Maybe the best benefit of living off-campus is the freedom. For many moving to college for the first time, this will be the first true freedom you’ve ever experienced, living without the supervision of your parents. It’s exciting, and while dorms offer a taste of this, true freedom comes from living off-campus.
With on-campus living, there are rules you need to follow. You’re under the constant watchful eye of dorm heads, who can take away certain privileges if you break rules.
Beyond that, you’re usually forced to use sometimes dirty communal washrooms and kitchens, and have heavy restrictions on inviting guests over. Moving from home to a dorm is kind of like replacing your parents with a boss, and that’s not very cool.
Living off-campus offers you the freedom to do what you want when you want for better or for worse. Invite people over, throw a party, keep all the food you want, and live your life however you want. Not only will living alone help you learn important life lessons and get you into your own groove, it also means you won’t have to worry about breaking rules you weren’t aware even existed.
Another major bonus that comes with freedom is alone time. Even if you have a roommate, you’ll usually have your own room in an off-campus apartment or house, meaning you can lock yourself away and have some quiet time whenever you want. In a dorm, you never know when your roommate will be around, and sometimes there’s simply no escape when you need to unwind or study up in the comfort of your own space.
5. Bonding Experiences
One of the major reasons people live on campus is for the social benefits. There’s a sense of community in dorms since you’re constantly going to be around people, and engaging in dorm-specific activities. But there’s no reason your social life should plummet living off-campus, and no reason you should miss out on anything.
Living off-campus still allows you to live with roommates and offers you more social freedom by having no restrictions. You can invite whoever you want over for however long you want, throw parties, and you’ll have plenty of time to bond with your roommates during your downtime. Plus, living off-campus means you can get away from people when you want to, meaning you won’t get sick of being around them, and making social time much more meaningful.
Living with roommates you enjoy also offers a wide array of benefits, from less homesickness stress to a better retention rate in school, and even better grades!
Your bonding options are also more expansive off-campus. You can cook together, clean together, do laundry together, watch movies at all hours of the night, and go out wherever you want whenever you want. When you have freedom your bonding experiences widen and you’ll find it much easier to find activities you and your roommates or friends enjoy doing.
Living in a dorm is sort of like living with a bunch of strangers, and you’re definitely not going to click with all those strangers. Living off-campus means you get to vet who you live with, offering you the freedom to live with friends who you know you get along with. Don’t let FOMO talk you out of living off-campus, because it’s simply not that big of a deal.
6. Food, Food, Food
Food might be the least considered plus-side of living off-campus, but it can’t be stressed enough. Living off-campus means you’re not at the whim of the expensive meal plan, which can be extremely restrictive and offer downright terrible food at times. Plus, if you’ve got dietary restrictions or are vegan or vegetarian, that’ll only make the school-provided food an even worse option.
Living off-campus means you have your own fridge, your own cupboards, and your own cooking utensils. Most dorms don’t even allow you to use a hotplate, while off-campus living gives you the ability to use ovens, toasters, and all the crazy cooking gadgets your heart desires. Put that strange panini-maker your parents got you as a going away gift to use!
And it’s not even just about cooking. We live in a world of Ubereats, where you can easily get just about any food you want to your door within minutes. Order a pizza, order Chinese food, order fried chicken — order them all in one night if you want, you have the freedom!
Learning to prepare and budget your own food is a crucial life skill that dorm life simply doesn’t offer. You’re not going to learn how to grocery shop, cook, or store your food living in a dorm. This is just another way that dorm life can be restricting and freedom stripping.
You’ll also have the freedom to experiment with food and try new things. Your diet is your choice, meaning you can try the vegetarian lifestyle if you want, try out that hip new diet you’ve been reading about, or just go to town on pizza every night (although that may not be the healthiest option).
You’re going to need to cook in the future, so it’s time to find out what you like, what you can make, and grow your skillset. Off-campus living is the best and only way to do this in college.
The Off-Campus Life Rocks
If you’re going off to college soon, don’t feel like you need to restrict yourself to dorm life. While dorm life offers some pluses, you’ll find that living off-campus offers its own set of benefits as well, while taking away none of the experiences you can have living in a dorm. Save money, learn some skills, and be merry by choosing off-campus student housing.
