To dorm or not to dorm?

I have heard alot of talk in my high school career about where to live once I go to college. At first, I assumed that the time would come to think about it much later and that everything would just fall into place when that time came. However, now that I have been accepted into a university and am actually only a few months away from starting my life at college, I have come to realize that this is not the case.

One very important step in the college housing process occurs before you even apply for college, during your campus visits. I made the mistake of not taking any formal campus visits (the kind where you meet with a counselor and/or get a guided tour of the campus), and I believe that doing so instead of figuring things out on my own would have made the process of choosing a college much easier. It would have also allowed me to see the dorms close-up, as well as to explore other housing options in the area.

A second source for information on housing can come from your teachers, or even from students who are currently attending the school. The consensus from the teachers seems to be: yes, live in the dorms. They say this for several reasons. A major one is that it allows for better interaction with your classmates. This includes both educational interaction (study groups, etc.) and social interaction. However, for me the answer wasn't quite that simple. Living in such close quarters with another female is not something that I find particularly appealing, and though I realize the importance of social interaction, some of the colleges that I was looking at for their superior academics also happened to be some of the biggest "party schools" in the Midwest. So where's the compromise?

I posed this question to students that I know from various colleges. Some said the idea of having a roommate is much scarier than actually having one, but others said quite the opposite. As for the party situation, most agreed that those scenarios are pretty easy to stay away from if that isn't your thing. However, this still left me a bit confused.

Now that I have been accepted to Kansas State University and have begun applying for my financial aid, housing, and enrolling in my classes, I am beginning to realize that I need to make this decision quickly. However, another factor has now entered into the housing conundrum: money. By filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), I can get some (if not all) of my housing costs paid for, but in order to reserve my spot in the dorms, I need quite a large sum of money as a down payment, which my family does not have. Therefore, I have begun to look for other alternitives.

Frankly, the only reason I applied for student housing in the first place is because it was the easy way out. However, I didn't realize how much thought actually goes into finding a place to live for college. Luckily, I have found a place where I can live with two friends for less money than staying in the dorms. I will still have to live with roommates, but they are people that I know and trust. Also, the fact that having our own place doesn't have as much structure or rules as a dorm allows me more personal freedom, which I need as an art-minded person.

So, after much struggle and, in the end, compromise, I have found a solution to my housing problem. Hopefully my experiences will help people in similar situations, or at least inform high school students who haven't quite reached this point of what to look out for.

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