Two seniors move into their respective homes for the 2003-2004 academic year. Senior #1 moves into the same boring townhouse room she was in the year before. In it, she has to use the same bed, dresser and desk. She doesn't get a closet; she has no living room and couldn't fit a couch in her townhouse floor no matter how hard she tried. She has a makeshift kitchen, forcing her to eat campus food for the fourth year in a row.
Senior #2 has a single as well, but also can spend some of his free time in a living room, dining room, full kitchen, basement and even on his front and back porch. He gets to use his own furniture, which includes a sweet water bed. He can make his own food, which in comparison will be cheaper then the food served on campus and he can move in as early as June 1, giving him a year-long freedom from curfews he has never experienced.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that senior #2 got the better end of the deal. And poor Amanda, aka senior #1, is stuck living on campus, while I get to move off campus and live down the street from a bar! It is all this and more that I argue that living off campus for your senior year is the better choice.
Sure some claim that having to park a car is too much of a hassle, but those people aren't saving up to two thousand dollars by moving off campus. Plus, I get to live in my house throughout the entire summer, thanksgiving break, winter break and spring break. I never get forced out of my home.
If it snows and the College decides to have classes, Amanda has to go because she has no excuse to get out of it.
Meanwhile, I have a perfectly legitimate excuse to missing classes because the four inches of snow have trapped me in my driveway.
Sure, Amanda and her senior cronies that chose the dorm life for four years straight get free cable, internet, and electricity but I did I mention I get a waterbed! Plus, my rent and utility expenses for six months won't add up to one semester of on-campus living.
Deciding to move off campus for my senior year was a stressful decision, as it usually is for many rising juniors and seniors.
Unlike many of my friends, I had guaranteed housing, so it was a matter of my choice, not the whim of the lottery.
Making the decision was a bit scary I must admit, but when I realized who I would be living with the multitude of benefits of moving off campus, I had to take the chance, and so far I believe it will be one of the greatest decisions of my college career.
I know a lot of students are afraid to make the jump, because living on campus is extremely convenient and it's just the safe thing to do. But frankly, moving off campus and living an independent life that involves cooking and balancing rent payments better prepares you for the real world.
You can't always swipe a card for food, your job and classes will never be just a five minute walk away so take the step to living a real life and move off!
Did I mention I get to do my laundry for free? Take that shmanda.
