Living on or off-campus: Which is better?

New students joining university have a big task ahead of them. They have to decide whether they will stay on or off campus during their study period at the university. Students need to carefully analyze their choices if they are to make a proper decision. For starters, the institution may require you to stay in the dorms during your first year. You may also have some personal reasons behind your decision. Reasons such as:

1.  Transportation

Unless you are a student who works a distance away from school and doesn’t own a car, most students prefer to save on transportation costs by residing at school. This is usually the case when the post-secondary institution they are attending is near a big city and they want to avoid public transport hassles.

2.  Privacy

One of the greatest advantages of living off campus is the privacy you get. You will get to choose if you want to live with a roommate or not, and you will definitely avert constant supervision by the RA. The case is very different for on-campus students. In the dorms, they don’t get to choose a roommate and they certainly have to adhere to dorm rules/curfews and share communal bathrooms with other students.

3.  Food

Another benefit of living off campus is having more food options. You will be able to purchase your own groceries and make your own special meals anytime you choose to. Students living in dorms don’t get such freedom; they can only buy food from the restaurants or cafeterias on campus.

4.  Social commitments and work

As a student who works a job that operates during odd hours, you may find it better to live off campus, especially if you would love to work longer hours and live alone. This would be a great way to avoid all the dorm noise.

5.  Finances

Although it costs about the same price living on campus to sharing an apartment with a couple of roommates in an economical apartment, it is always cheaper to live on campus as you will save on your living expenses.

6. Roommates

Roommates pose a great issue to students living both off and on-campus. The only benefit off-campus students have over on-campus students living in the dorms is that they get to choose whom to have as their roommate.  As for on-campus students, the chances of getting a private room are only available when you offer medical issues or legitimate reasons. Other than that, you will never have a say when it comes to choosing a roommate and you will certainly not miss one.

7.  Medical care and security

The best part about staying on-campus is the services offered by the institution. As a student, you will get access to nursing services and you will have security 24/7 as long as you are within the institution’s premises. Off campus students experience great hassles while searching for an apartment that offers security services 24 hours long. This is mostly because such apartments are very expensive. Also, they incur more expenses anytime they need medical attention as the school doesn’t provide nursing services to them if they aren’t in the institution.

There you have it. You can always find a comfortable York University housing off campus or stick to residing in a dorm.