10 Reasons Not to Live on Campus

The cost of living in dorms is not shown in the college catalogues or university brochures. If anything, brief descriptive paragraphs and images may show a small edge of the overall picture. Smart students and parents should take a look at the overall scenario before signing the Housing contract required at most institutions of higher learning.

Colleges make a lot of money charging high prices for substandard housing and meals. Students choose a college based on educational quality and ranking in the competitive order to get in, not the quality of their housing and food services. Housing administrations slurp money from students who have no other option.

The housing portion of any college experience can devalue everything else going on in your life and can be time intensive to repair. Your entire participation in college life may depend upon the impression the housing and its residents have on your particular goals and progress.

If you know a college student or have friends or relatives starting college in the fall, pass this article on to them. It contains real-world advice nobody else will tell them until it's too late. If you want to shave zeros from your ultimate student loan total, here are some factors to consider.

1. Try to stay at home your first 2-3 years of school. Don't pay premium prices to live in overpriced student dorms with immature kids away from home for the first time. You will have to pay interest on the money you borrow to do so and the quality of life isn't fun.

You will be powerless to affect your quality of life in dormitories unless it's negative. You'll have students throwing up in your bushes, your roommate will have anonymous guests to stay the night, and you'll be tense and on edge every time you walk into 'your" room. Being a student is fun to look back on but risky to enjoy in the present.

College can be a risk if study suffers.

Credit: Mark Hunter

Copyright: Mark Hunter