Going away for college vs. Staying home

When I was deciding where to apply to school, I knew I wanted to go away for college, but not too far. I wanted to be just far enough to have my distance and close enough that I can go home for the weekend if I wanted too. For me, Penn State was the perfect location. I am from Long Island, New York, so it is only a 4.5 hour drive away. I knew that I did not want to stay home and commute. It just was not for me. But many of my friends did. That made me think, is there a difference in going away for college or staying home? Is there more of a benefit for staying home?

There are pros and cons for going away for college or staying home.

Going away for College – Pros

Going away for college definitely has some pros to it. One of the biggest pros I found when doing research was being independent. When you are away from your family and friends, you grow as an individual. You have to learn to do things on your own, such as laundry and shopping for goods, as well as be able to make important decisions, budgeting time for classes, studying and balancing them with a social life, without turning to your parents. This allows students to grow, mature and take responsibility for themselves. Another benefit is that it expands one’s views and perspectives of other people and the world. You are surrounded with all new people with different backgrounds and stories. You learn more about other cultures by being in a new environm123ent with people you have just met.

Going away for College – Cons

When I decided to go away for college, I knew there was a good chance I would be homesick, which is very common. It is their first time being away from home for an extended amount of time. But probably the biggest con for going away to college is that college can be very expensive. Between tuition, food, room & board, and travel expenses, the costs really adds up. That is money that you could save and use towards getting a house or car when you are older.

Staying home for College – Pros

According to the Sallie Mae report, “one of the reasons families spent 5% less on college in 2012 is due to students staying home.” Staying home for college saves so much money. With not having to pay for room & board, laundry, and groceries, you have a lot more money to spend elsewhere. Another pro is that you have your family always there to support you emotionally as well as physically, with healthy meals. This one sounds silly but by living at home, you are guaranteed to have good quality meals that you are used to. I would do anything for a nice home cooked meal right now. Home cooked food is so much better than the food in the commons.

Staying home for College – Cons

Research states that the most common cons of staying home for college is the commute, lack of involvement within the campus, and lack of independence. Having to commute to class everyday may get annoying and you need to leave extra time to account for that. You also have to add in traffic time. The time spent driving you can be studying or doing homework. Also, living in a dorm gives you the opportunity to meet new people and experience the true freshman experience. Lastly, since you are still living with your parents, you have to obey your parent’s rules and therefore not growing and becoming more independent.

 
Niche Data states that 58% of students go to college within 100 miles from their hometown, 72% of students stay in state for college, and only 11% of students venture more than 500 miles from home. In the same article, it relates distance and SAT scores. It shows that people who scored at least a 2100 go the farthest away and people who scored 1200-1500 stayed closer to home. These results are the same for people who go out of state with 56% of people who scored at least a 2100 went out of state for college.

After researching this topic, I can conclude that there is not a correct answer for choosing where to go to school. It is all based on personal choices. While the Niche Data suggests that those with higher scores and are better students would go further from home for college, I do not think that this is a fair assessment as many other factors should be considered. As I stated above, costs are becoming a larger factor in choosing a school. In addition, one’s family situation (single parent from divorce or widow (er), siblings etc) must be considered as well. I believe there are too many other variables other than SAT scores to suggest there is this correlation between grades and distance of school. The study should include additional family demographics to better determine any correlation for going away to school versus staying at home.

4 thoughts on “Going away for college vs. Staying home

  1. Elizabeth Sweitzer

    I really liked reading this because it wasn’t even a question when looking for colleges if I wanted to stay near home or not, I wanted to be far, but not too far. I am about 2.5 hours from home and feel as though it is a good distance. I also agree with what your research found, that going away for college helps you become more independent, I have found that I am already becoming less dependent on my parents. It would be very interesting if you could expand upon this topic and find a study supporting the claim that people become more independent when they travel away from home for college.

  2. Marisa Rose Defilippo

    I really enjoyed your post as I found this topic to be very relevant to people our age. When applying to colleges, this was definitely something I spent a lot of time going back and forth on. I am from Maryland so for me, Penn State was the perfect distance since it is only about 3 to 3.5 hours away. I completely agree with you on how you wanted to get away but not too far! I really like how much information you provided for pros and cons on both staying home, or going to college.

  3. Thomas Curran

    I really enjoyed reading this post because this is a huge factor that all of us students have had to look at when we decided on attending Penn State. I am from New York as well and had a very similar mindset as you; I wanted to go away, but not be awfully far. Discovering the pros and cons of being away as opposed to being local at home are extremely important, but there are also many other factors that could play a role in an individual’s decision making process. While grades definitely play a significant role in who goes away to college and who stays local, I think is is important to note that this is not always consistent. For example, someone who aced their SATs might have stayed local because going away would be too expensive. Overall, way to touch on many of the pros and cons of both going away and staying at home!

  4. Marcella Santos

    This article was really cool as I’ve always wandered how many people really step outside of their comfort zone and go to a school thats not in-state or around home. I’m one of them. I am from MA and therefore am almost 500 miles away from home. I miss home frequently but love PSU and can now call it my new home. This article is fun and relatable yet many third confounding variables can play a role such as financial aid, scholarships, what schools have certain majors, and parent’s financial situations. All of these aspect and many more contribute into the decision making of what school to go to. I, on the other hand, love Penn State! WE ARE!

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