I don’t mean the situations when a student goes to college in another city and obviously,needs a place to live but can’t afford the apartment. I mean,when he *stays in his town and can live at home*.
For example, if someone lives in New York or any major or medium large city,why would they leave the city to study?There are so many choices!
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Kinda hard to bring the ladies back to my mom’s house… you would get laughed at for that (unless you are rich). And not all parents let their kids live with them after they turn 18.
For your second part not everyone enjoys the big city.
Some schools require first year (or first and second year) students to live on campus. Maybe the student wants to be part of campus life and get the whole college experience of living in dorms. Maybe they have a shitty living situation at home. In a city like New York, which is very expensive, it might not be that much cheaper to live off campus.
Also there are plenty of schools that don’t have very much student housing; they’re called commuter schools. Where I live, there’s a big school called the University of Houston, and most of the people who live on campus are international students.
>if someone lives in New York or any major or medium large city,why would they leave the city to study?
I wanted to get out of Texas for college and live somewhere new, so I didn’t apply anywhere in Houston or Texas.
I didn’t. I lived at home. Saved me $$$$$$$$$$. I do sometimes regret I didn’t have the dorm experience, but I don’t regret not having massive student debt.
Do you know someone who is doing this? Or have stats about it happening frequently? Because I’ve never known anyone who has gone to school in the same town they lived in prior to college but lived on campus. Most people who live up to an hour away will just commute.
It would be an exception for a university to grant no exceptions for students that live with their family. Also, Americans tend to value independence and personal freedom so the student very well may WANT to live on campus.
Why would someone leave NYC? To experience other things I suppose. Not everyone wants to live in the largest city in the country.
Some colleges here mandate that you live in the dorm during your first year, regardless of whether you are from the city or not. Just another way for them to make money off of you.
There may be a better options somewhere else for their choice of study or maybe they don’t want to live in that particular city or they may get a scholarship.
The reason some move to a dorm is just to not live at home with their parents. Dorm life is a transition from living at home with parents to living on your own.
A lot of American students do just what you say. Live at home and study at a local school.
We do have a history here though of setting out away from our parents here after high school. Also, while you mentioned there are places here that have plenty of local choices…there’s even more choices when you go elsewhere.
So in general, the Americans that do live in a dorm and/or go somewhere else in the country for school do so from a need/desire for independence and for what is a preferable/necessary choice for them.
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There’s other cases too. Scholarship programs and offers can come from all over the country, which can make it even cheaper to go elsewhere for school and live in a dorm than it would be to go somewhere local and live at home.
Uh because who wants to live at home in uni? Part of the experience is learning how to be independent and grow outside of your family. Being away from home is important for your development.
Do those schools have the major and good department the student wants? Are those schools affordable? Is commuting really possible, or will it eat too much time every day? Does the student even want to continue to live at home, or would they like to stretch their wings and get out from under the parental gaze, old patterns, and experience life kind of on their own?
College is seen as a unique life stage for a young adult here in the US, and being away makes it much more possible.
* A big part of the “college experience” is leaving home and living somewhere new. When I was an incoming freshman and you asked me to list the top 10 reasons why I wanted to go to college, probably four of those reasons to move out of home and be “on my own.”
* As for the hypothetical student from New York, there might be tons of reasons to seek a school outside of NYC: Other schools in other parts of the country might have better programs of study. *He might just want to get out of New York*. Maybe he want to see what living on the west coast is like. Or in the mountains. And even if he does go to college in New York City, he might still have a two hour commute from home to campus. Living in a dorm on or near campus would slash that commute to minutes.
It is kind of about the college experience (at least for middle class and upper middle class kids.) you want a college that’s a good “fit”. I did commute to NYC for grad school, but for undergrad, I went to a school in the south, because I wanted the traditional experience (sports, school spirit, etc.), I liked the less-busy/competitive culture, better weather, I wanted to try something new, and they had good courses in my major. I work at a university now, and even the students whose families are here live in dorms/apartments bc it’s easier to make friends and they generally want more independence / access to social life. Colleges here, except for some outliers (like NYU) can really be a bubble, and students generally prefer to be in the bubble. I live 5 miles from campus and college students never make it to the bars / restaurants I go to- they all stay right around campus
My friend just wanted the dorm experience so he lived in one for his first year. He spent his remaining three years in two different apartments.
Many don’t, many will live at home and go to the local (we call them ‘community colleges’) college and finish at a larger college / university.
Part of the draw to living in the dorms is to get away from the ‘rents and instill some much-needed independence in young people.
For the first question, they might live in the dorms because they can afford to and they want the experience of living in dorms.
For the second, people often want to grow and expand when they go to college (if they can afford to have the choice). So why would they NOT go to a different area?
>Why do american students live in the dorms when they study in their own cities
Because “the college experience” is a major way that American higher ed institutions justify charging absurd amounts of money.
>And why do they leave big cities to study?
Because the US has a ton of schools in a ton of settings. There are many top-tier schools in big cities, but many other top-tier schools are located in smaller cities (University of Michigan) and more rural areas/small towns (like Williams College).
It’s pretty common for colleges to require students to live on campus (at least for their first year), and the closest colleges don’t always have what you want.
I’m not from a city, but there are 6 colleges within about a half an hour drive from my house, including one that’s within walking distance. Instead, I’m going to one that’s 210 miles away from home. The closest one is only known for 2 things: alcoholism and handing out business degrees to rich kids who don’t know what they want to do in life but their parents made them go to college. And as a computer science major who doesn’t drink, I’m not really interested in either of those things.
I went to high school with a guy who went to the University of Colorado (3 hour drive to the airport and a 4 hour flight) because he wanted to be somewhere that had both skiing and legal marijuana.
I went to high school with another guy who went to some really small private school in LA (3 hour drive + 6 hour flight) because they have a really good film production program.
Some people are tired of having everything they do observed by their parents and they want some space and freedom.
Some people just want to go somewhere else and experience a new place.
Some people leave their big city because they like a school somewhere else better or it has a good program for what they want to study or options for extracurricular stuff that isn’t available in schools in their city.
There’s many more private colleges than there are public colleges.
Public colleges are cheaper.
A mid-sized city might have a small (religious) private college and no bachelors degree granting public college.
My school would cut your financial aid if you lived off campus before your senior year. I think most their income actually came from room & board.
A major portion of this transition in life is living away from your family and gaining/experiencing independence as an individual.
I went to high school in Brookhaven, GA and went to college at Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta. As a freshman, I was guaranteed (and mandated) to live in the dorms, and it was an excellent experience. Unfortunately, as a sophomore, I didn’t make the housing lottery and had to live back home and commute; not only was that a PITA (commuting itself, can’t go crash back at your room if you have a gap in your schedule, etc.), it was a setback as a young adult and I was back under the rules of my parents (which were quite domineering and intrusive).
Yes, I get the differences in finances this can make. IMO, the psychological and social aspects of living on campus beat the financial concerns if you can swing it.
>For example, if someone lives in New York or any major or medium large city,why would they leave the city to study?There are so many choices!
Because the local [the city dweller] colleges may not offer the desired program. Or, they may offer it but not be in the top tier. Or the locally offered program may not be a good fit for the student’s desires.
Just because there are lots of choices, that doesn’t mean that they’re what you want or need…
Residential requirements depend on the school, they all have their own individual policies.
As for leaving big cities, there are many factors. Many schools are in college towns, which are not necessarily big cities for example. There’s also a grass is greener effect, people often want a change of scenery, weather, etc
OP, you sleeping with your sister? Because I’m baffled anyone would wonder why a college student would want to have freedom and be away from the nest
Nearly every institution of higher learning in the US required first year students to live in the dorms. Many require it the second year, as well. Some require it all four years, including the college I went to.
With regard to why you would leave, there are literally hundreds of reasons. Maybe you’d like a sense of independence from your family. Maybe you don’t like any of the universities or colleges in the place you live. Maybe you *really* like a particular school elsewhere. Maybe you want to live in a specific place. Maybe you’ve been recruited to play college sports. The list goes on and on.
My parents home was an hour away without traffic. I went to school 5 days a week and worked. There was no way I was going to drive 2+ hours a day to get to school and back home, plus go to work after that. Not happening.
Living in the dorms was about $700/month with utilities included. The best side of that was living 5 minutes away from my classes. Worth it.
I left a big city because, imo, college is better when it’s *not* in a big city.
You stay more focused, and everything sort of revolves around the college.
If I had stayed in my home city to go to school I would have found 10,000 other things to do instead of school.
Also, my alma mater is in a gorgeous part of the country so that helped the decision as well. In fact it’s where I picked up my love of nature and outdoor activities.
Ok you’re 18 or 19 years old, ready for the next big experience and milestone in your life. Your choices are:
A) live in a coed building almost entirely populated by people within a couple years of your age, mostly unsupervised for the first time in your life, where almost all of your daily necessities are within a short walk or maybe bus/train/shuttle ride away, surrounded by tons of strangers all going through the same experience at once, and getting a small taste of what it’s like to be out in the world, on your own (while still having something of a safety net)
B) stay in your old room at mom and dad’s house, in the same town/suburb/city you’ve always lived, while a good chunk of your old friend group has moved away. Have more trouble making new friends than the kids living on campus because you aren’t living in the same place. Get your first real taste of what it’s like to commute to work.
The second option saves you money down the road, but most 18 year olds don’t give a fuck about money their parents are spending, or that they won’t have to pay back for years and years. And it’s also pretty rare for someone to have grown up that close to the school they choose to go to, someone that grew up in the suburbs of the city their school is in might still not be all that close or feel like commuting.
As for why they leave big cities to study, a lot of schools aren’t in big cities.
Many schools require Freshman, and sometimes Sophomores to live in the dorms.
Additionally even when they are not required many choose to live in the dorms because it grants them more independence than living at home, and it is easier to participate in the numerous school activities and attend classes if you are already on campus.
As for leaving their home city. They may get better scholarship or grant deals at a different university. The reputation of a different university may be one they prefer. The specific degrees offered may be different. And they may want to physically get farther away from family.
I had a friend that did it for the college experience. It helped that he didn’t have to pay for room and board. School charged room and board based on families income. Most students paid nothing to go there.
I sure as hell didn’t. Too expensive. I lived 20 minutes away, I wasn’t gonna live on campus.
The “college experience” was not worth giving up my queen sized bed.
I lived at home when I first went to college. I wish I hadn’t.
>For example, if someone lives in New York or any major or medium large city,why would they leave the city to study?There are so many choices!
1) Applying to colleges is has a factor of luck and is based on how the college rates their applicants
I might apply to 15 schools and I might get lucky and a school in Buffalo NY gives me more financial aid and is better then any school I got into in New york. Most of the time your right its more economical to stay in the city.
2) They just want to leave New york