Alright, so a dorm costs roughly $2500 more per year compared to a car.
Now the only question is if a social life + all the time driving to school and back is worth it.
Alright, so a dorm costs roughly $2500 more per year compared to a car.
Now the only question is if a social life + all the time driving to school and back is worth it.
With regards to the original topic, this. I commuted via bus 1.5 hours each way to a part-time job a couple days a week last year, and looking back it was insane. Absolutely not worth it.
In talking about getting a car v. living in the dorm, however, I'd still be concerned about time. You said the distance is 30 miles and it's a 40 minute drive? You'll be going 45 MPH on average every minute of the way? What about stop lights, rush hour traffic, etc? I'm obviously not the authority on this and I'm sure you know it very well, but it just seems like cutting it close to gauge that amount.
So what if you bumped it to 45 min? Even then that seems a bit much. And how frequently is a car necessary on campus? Here at UW having a car is "nice" and all, but, using my roommate as an example, it's not necessary more than once a week on average for other things, if that.
I had a horrible freshman year experience living in the dorms, as is Kurtle now, but that was because neither of us had the opportunity to choose our roommate. With that option I think dorming would still be better for you.
Dorming is far better towards the college experience than commuting. Roommate issues aside.
I went the commuting route because my first two years of college were at a community college. I always wonder what it would have been like to live on campus, but I would never trade my car for it. Sure, commuting takes its toll, but only if you're not focused. It was painful getting through the rest of useless general ed classes, but I push through for my Accounting stuff.
Totally antisocial though, and I don't really have friends on campus. But who knows if I'd even have friends there if I LIVED there?
That is with rush hour. I can literally get there in 25~30 mins if I really punched it. Still going legal limits, mind you. But I understand where you're going.
A car isn't needed because we have rent-a-cars on campus, free CSU shuttle to town, and a bus that goes around the city. It's definitely not a must, but in order to get to the mall, for example, you'd need to take like 2 or 3 buses just to get there. It'd take maybe an hour max by bus, while with a car it'd be like 20 mins max. I, for one, love free time. Anything to get it, I suppose!
And I'm also thinking long term with this potential car. I want to work during the summer, if I can, and I don't want to depend on my parents to drive me everywhere. I always find myself stranded because they have plans that seem to be far more important than mine. If they weren't busy, I'd have to leave home (or inform them I'm ready to leave) almost 10 minutes before I'm really supposed to leave. They burn up all that time getting into the vehicle and taking off.
Def get the car.
I had really terrible motivation sometimes, and class being a <10 minute walk helped me get through it. I was around 25min away one term and it was a lot harder to get out and moving, just for a 1hour class.
I'd prefer a dorm w/o meal plan though, much cheaper if you like eating all rice all the time
ive done pretty much all the ways you could live on or off campus, but ive had a car for like 6 of the 8 years
dorms were the most convenient and best experience by far
RAs help a lot with roommate issues. housemates suck, no matter how well you can live together. 40 minute commutes were the worst experience ive ever had (but that was a school related job, not to get to class). i dont want to commute that long ever again.
between community bath, private, or suite, private was best (if you have the option), suite is fine, and community is bearable but beware april fools.
if you feel like committing yourself to an organization, fraternities can enhance the dorm experience and provide a nice alternative to regular dorms, but you need to find the right one (for example, theres a gamer/nerd frat at my school and 6 or 7 regular broski frats). i personally wouldve fit in fine, i just didnt want to be locked into a bunch of stuff relating to fraternity upkeep and propagation.
meal plan depends on what your school has to offer. my first school had 7 cafeterias open pretty much all the time with decent food, was good to be on a plan there. my 2nd school had 1 caf open only during "meal times", with barely prison quality food.... not so good.
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