College Living The Benefits of Off-Campus Housing

Rohan Mathew

Updated on:

College is one of the most memorable and exciting times of a young person’s life. It’s often the first time a student is off living on their own, expanding their education, and preparing for their future careers.

There are some key decisions any student will need to make about how they want their college experience to unfold. A person’s college living situation will play a big part in how their time at school feels. 

Some students elect to stay in dorms or on-campus student housing, while others immediately hop at the opportunity to live in off-campus housing. Both paths have their benefits, but many students are aware of the many reasons to consider off-campus housing.

What are some of the major benefits one should be aware of? Read on and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know.

Click here – Types Of Kitchens That Are Perfect For Shaker Cabinets

Privacy and Control

If you’re going to live in a dorm room on campus, you’re going to be putting yourself in the center of a lot of chaos that you can’t control. Most dorm room dwellers are randomly assigned not just a roommate but sometimes suitemates as well.

It’s impossible to say ahead of time if you’ll get along with these individuals. It’s also impossible to say if they’ll respect the various needs you’ll require to make your initial college experience a positive one.

It can be hard to get some privacy and alone time when you’re always surrounded by other people. They might have completely different sleep schedules than yours, different habits, and different preferences for a living situation. 

This can go past simply not seeing eye-to-eye. If you can’t find some quiet time to study, get some sleep, and relax, it could begin to negatively impact your performance in your classes. That’s the very reason you’re at school, to begin with, so it’s important to prioritize a proper environment.

It’s easy to still be social when living off-campus, but having your own place to go back to can give you some room to operate in when you need it most. You can go about choosing a roommate with more control and ensure you pick someone who wants the same kind of environment as you do.

Budget-Friendly

You may balk at the suggestion that off-campus living is actually cheaper than living on campus. Often, the price for a dorm room falls far under the costs of living in an apartment or home.

However, there are a lot of other factors that you need to take into account when crafting a budget once you’re away from home. The cost of the space itself isn’t the only number you’ll want to keep in mind.

Dorm rooms and on-campus housing often don’t come with kitchens, for starters. That means you’ll be spending a whole lot more time eating out and spending money at restaurants. This can add up as the months go by.

If you get your own place off-campus, you can save money by purchasing groceries and eating at home. 

Many off-campus apartment buildings, such as the suny new paltz off campus housing, come with a number of amenities as well. You might get access to a gym, a pool, or a study center with free coffee.

These amenities can help cut down on the need for you to spend time and money elsewhere. You can get a lot of what you need, free of charge, in your complex itself. 

Click here – Computer: Is It The Best Business Manager?

More Space and Personalization

Let’s face it: dorm rooms are small. So small, in fact, that you can barely go about doing much without stepping on your new roommate’s feet.

One of the major advantages of moving off-campus is the amount of space that it provides. No longer will you have to tip-toe around one another and cram all your belongings into one corner.

You’ll have an actual refrigerator as opposed to a small unit that fits into the corner, which means you can hold more items than a simple gallon of milk. 

You should have no issue with branching out and taking advantage of all this space that a private apartment or home has to offer.

All of this space also opens the door for more opportunities to personalize said space. In a dorm room, there’s very limited space to bring some of yourself into how the room feels. 

You have only a fraction of two walls and a small corner to make your own. You’re also curating the vibe of the room with another person entirely.

With an apartment, you’ll have multiple rooms to decorate as you see fit. You’ll have space to put movie posters up, bring in furniture from home, and so forth. You can curate a space exactly as you see fit, allowing it to feel more like home than it might otherwise.

Easier Parking

If you’re bringing a car with you to utilize as part of your college experience, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening once you get on campus. At nearly all major schools, parking on campus can feel near impossible.

Every day can be a battle to find a parking spot. It can very literally add up to hours and hours of your year.

With off-campus housing, you’ll be given a designated spot by your complex in most cases, so you’ll never have to worry about parking. You can hop into your car and get where ever you need to be in little time.

Benefits of Off-Campus College Living

If you’re looking to enjoy yourself and your time in college, you’ll need to put a lot of thought into the way you’ll be living. There are many benefits of off-campus college living and the above are just a few important ones.

Need more education advice and information? Keep scrolling our blog for more.