For the majority of new students starting university, it’s not just a new place of education, it is somewhere to call home. Young students in particular will be leaving home for the first time and moving into accommodation near their university. This can be just as important in the lives of young people as the education itself and is often what students look back on most fondly. However, what about those students who choose not to move into university accommodation? What about those who commute to university and who are living off campus?
Positives and negatives
There are many advantages to living off campus at university. For many, it is that they have their family home within a close distance of their desired university campus and, as such, it simply makes practical sense. For others it could be simply too much of a financial burden to afford to live in university accommodation. Or it could even perhaps they have spent many years living on campus or close by and simply want a break from the potential mania that university life may bring.
That being said I can’t help but wonder how the experience differs from my own. I have only ever spent my time at university living in halls of residence or student designed accommodation right next to campus. Like many, I have been in the thick of the action in terms of university life. How can you have a true university experience without this?
In my attempt to answer this question I was keen to chat with someone who themselves spent their first entire year living several miles away from their university campus. Ryan was keen to highlight the difference in the experience.
FOMO
‘There is always a fear of missing out,’ he said. ‘You wonder if there is some sort of community spirit that you’re not quite 100% part of. Not to mention there is a convenience that comes with it that may save you money on certain travel expenses’.
It seems that Ryan could only really see the negative aspects of living off campus when he first started.
We continued to talk closely about the experiences he’d had in his year living off campus and he was adamant that his experience didn’t necessarily match his expectations.
‘When it comes to the social side of things, what you find is that those who you want to spend time with will make time to share those valuable moments of down time with you,’ he said. ‘I also didn’t feel that living off campus negatively affected my coursework and I quite enjoyed my independence’.
The contrast from how Ryan felt before moving into his off campus living arrangement, and how he feels now, should reassure anyone that, if they do intend to seek this option out, it’s certainly a viable one. While the joy, and often madness, of living right on the university doorstep can be seen as the pinnacle experience for many, it certainly isn’t the only way to enjoy and look back on a truly memorable experience.