Most students are ready to get out of their house by the end of high school and try living life "on their own" in the experimental structure known as college. Still, there are some benefits to living at home during college: whether or not they outweigh the benefits of living on campus, I'll leave up to you.

1) Finances: this is probably the biggest one, and the most common reason for students choosing to stay at home. The cost of living in a dorm or apartment is just too much to handle for some students, as well as the cost of food and other expenses that home life normally provides (i.e. laundry, toiletries, clothes). While there may be some extra costs in transportation to and from school every morning, this is small change compared to the other financial burdens living away from home entails.

2) Easier transition: this may not apply to everyone, but certain personality types just don't transition easy from one life phase to another. For those who have never been away from home for a long period of time, suddenly uprooting and going away to college in an unfamiliar place can be mortifying. For these people, living at home during college can ease the transition from high school to a school where there is more personal responsibility.

3) Support: sure, colleges have tutors and learning centers, and professors have office hours, but there's nothing like family to encourage you to keep at it when times get hard. And sure, they could do it over the phone, but it's so much more helpful to get cheered on in person by someone who sees you coming home everyday with that pile of homework and has an idea of what you're going through.

4) You get to keep your bearings: perhaps you worked a job in high school that you would like to keep while in college. Perhaps you are involved in some community groups or clubs that were really going places and you want to stay a part of that. Or perhaps you just have an awesome set of friends. I'm not saying that you should turn down going away to school because there won't be new job offers, new clubs, or new friends, but sometimes if you're happy where you are then you just don't need to go away to get what you want out of life.

5) Food!: It sounds cliche, but cafeteria food is usually terrible, and the fast food that you will be buying to replace it will be worse. The freshman 15 is no joke: most new college students DO gain weight because they are eating less healthy and excercising less. Living at home will usually ensure that at least one meal of the day isn't junk food, and your parents will usually make sure of that.

6) Parents: Sure, they can be annoying at times, and having to follow all their house rules even though you're an adult now won't be fun, but at least you know that they are there for you and won't let you slack off, in any aspect of your life. After all, they are your parents.

Learn more about this author, Shannon Burton.
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