On-Campus Living vs. Commuting vs. Off-Campus Living
Though some schools require all students live on campus for their freshman (and sometimes also sophomore) year, your child will most likely have a choice between living in a residence hall owned and operated by the university, living at home and commuting to school each day, or living in a house or apartment close to campus. The pros and cons of each option will differ from school to school, student to student and parent to parent but we’ll detail each one to ensure you and your child select the most beneficial option.
Living on campus is ideal for freshmen for several reasons. Many schools group freshmen together in the same dormitories or areas of campus, meaning your child will be living with other first-year students and sharing this new chapter in their lives with others in the exact same situation.
Some schools give housing priority to students living the furthest away so if you live within a certain mileage of campus, your child could be ineligible to take advantage of university housing. Even if this isn’t the case, students whose parents reside close to campus should consider living at home and commuting to school each day.
As students become more familiar with the area surrounding campus, they may consider moving into a house or apartment close to the college grounds instead of on them. Typically, this happens junior or senior year but some students elect to forego university housing from the beginning.
Here at Scholarships.com, we connect students with scholarships that can help alleviate the amount of student loans they need to take out to pay for college. But there are colleges out there that offer students such generous financial aid packages that they need to take out very little in loans if at all. These “no student loans” colleges replace student loans in financial aid packages with additional scholarships and grants to help fund a student’s tuition. Students accepted into these schools will pay much less than the cost of tuition and thus will not be as burdened with student debt. [...]
Well-known and selective colleges such as the University of Virginia, Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley are seeing a spike in college applications due to their adoption of test-optional admissions for the 2021 admissions cycle. These record increases have led some schools to announce an extension of test-optional admissions into future years. [...]
A great scholarship opportunity for students enrolling at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has extended through the end of Black History Month. The Future of Stem Scholars Initiative (FOSSI) will award 150 scholarships worth $40,000 over four years as well as provide mentoring and internship opportunities to select winners. The extended deadline for this scholarship is March 1st. [...]
