Will you allow your daughter to live off-campus?

This could be one of the toughest questions any parent can have in their lifetime, especially if their sons or daughters are soon to go off to pursue their college education. There are just too many factors to consider and even after a lot of thinking, still the decision may not seem to come easy.

For the students, the dilemma would be the same. Is it better to live in-campus or would it be advantageous to live off-campus? There are pros and cons to living in-campus as there are pros and cons to living off-campus. If you are the parents of a student in Rollins College in Orlando, Florida, it would help to know all of advantages and disadvantages of off-campus housing before making any decision.

Pros of Off-Campus Housing

With good judgment and sensibility, off-campus accommodation need not be scary both for parents and the students. Off-campus housing offers the following:

1. Freedom

Parents can consider it as a way of teaching their growing teenage kids to be more independent and responsible. Off-campus living frees the students from most rules and restrictions college and university dorms enforce. But that freedom should come with a good sense of what is within the realms of right, good and just. In terms of habitation, the students will have a free hand in decorating their rooms, cooking meals they actually like, etc.

2. A Break from Campus

Most of the students’ waking hours are spent in the university or college campus – in classes, extra-curricular activities, meal time, and study time. Over time, it can be suffocating to the point of wanting to get away from the campus for once. If you live in one of the dorms in the campus, there’s nowhere else to go.

3. Choice

Off-campus apartments offer the students to live together, pitch-in for the rent and live in a more home-like environment than the dorm-style living conditions in-campus. Students can choose from a studio apartment to one- or two-bedroom unit if they are living with other friends and schoolmates. But living in any of the Rollins College apartments near campus does not mean that there are no house rules to follow. Students who live together should establish their apartment rules on curfew, bringing other friends over, proper use of electricity and other utilities, cleaning rotation, bathroom schedules, among others. 

4. Responsibility

Living in an apartment off-campus will teach the students about responsibility – of paying for the rent, utility bills, keeping the apartment clean and orderly, fix minor problems, and be cautious about their safety. Fortunately, most of the well-planned apartments near Rollins College recognize the importance of security for the renters so they provide 24/7 security service.

Cons of Off-Campus Housing

Just like anything, off-campus living has its own disadvantages, too. For one, off-campus housing is not covered by college grants or scholarships. An exception would be if the college or university owns the off-campus facility. This means that the students’ parents will have to be responsible for paying the rent.

Extra Expenses

Living off-campus generally translates to additional expenses because the students will have to spend for everything including transportation to and from the campus, food, electricity and water bills, heating bill, internet service or security services, etc. And because it’s off-campus, the convenience of waking up just a few minutes before class starts is lost. The students will have to allocate for more time to get to their class. 

Based on the advantages and disadvantages of living off-campus, parents and their sons and daughters can make a decision coupled with a good sense of the student’s attitude, behavior and sense of responsibility. 

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… Cedric Loiselle is a passionate writer who takes pleasure in sharing useful information about real estate options to those who need it.