Living On vs. Off Campus
October 11, 2023
Grace Sommer, Contributing Writer
The end of the current school year is a ways away, but it is never too early to start thinking about next year's living situation. There are many aspects to consider when deciding whether or not a student will continue to live on campus or make the jump to living independently in their own apartment.
All first-year students at UMF must live on campus for reasons such as becoming comfortable with the campus and adjusting to college life. As to when students finish that first year, there is nothing that says they have to stay living in the dorms. When students are deciding if they want to be a part of the 56% of students that live on campus at UMF or move off, they have to consider the price of room and board as well as the price of rent on top of everything else that comes to living in an apartment.
Some positives of living on campus are that students are so close to everything they need, and it is easier to meet new people and make friends. The challenges to on campus housing are limited privacy if students have a roommate, many spaces they have to share, such as bathrooms and kitchens, and they don't have as much freedom.
The positives to living off campus is that, in many cases, rent is cheaper than room and board, students have more freedom, and they don’t have to follow the rules of the university. Negatives to this living decision are that it comes with more responsibilities, less social interaction, and is very expensive at the beginning.
Taylor Nelson and Jameson Bloch are two sophomores who spent their first year living in the dorms. Nelson now lives in an apartment with two roommates, while Bloch lives in a single dorm in Scott. As of the 2023/24 school year, students could expect to pay $10,970 to live on campus, whether they were in-state or out-of-state residents. According to Nelson, she will pay roughly $7,100 for the entire year in rent alone.
"The advantage to living on campus is that you are close to all your classes; at least, you are closer to them than if you are off campus. Other friends live on campus, and you are very close to them," Bloch stated. "I live in Scott right now, and it is a less than five-minute walk to any of the major buildings I would need for my major. I go to the library a lot, and that's less than 5 minutes, and as an athlete, I go to Dearborn a lot too, and that is max of five minutes. It is not a long commute to anything, which helps me plan out my day better to get more things done."
There are some downsides to both living situations, but one main one to living off campus is seeing fewer people.
"One of the hardest things we didn't think about until we got here was that you see fewer people. When you are on campus your first year, you run into people in the hallways; you see them in the dining hall. Living off campus, you are on campus for your classes, and that's pretty much it," Nelson states.
To every decision, there are going to be positives and negatives that will have to be considered carefully and each person is different. There is no right or wrong choice to the type of housing you live in during college. Each student needs to think about themselves personally and make the choice that is right for them.