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He currently lives in a student apartment complex off campus. It's really a cross between a dorm and an apartment, as you rent only your bedroom and the shared kitchen/living areas.
These privately owned dorms/student apartments seem to be becoming more popular. They take pressure and responsibility away from the college and are open to any student. I've known people that went this route; they don't sound much different than the typical college dorm.
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Originally Posted by Westerner92
With smaller and/or colleges in places that have a high cost of living, most live on campus because it's often not feasible to live in say, the Bay Area or Boston metro on a college kid's budget.
Eh, it is actually cheaper to live off campus in Boston-even when you factor in utilities (but, many apartments include heat/hot water with rent). A student can rent a studio in the more desirable areas (Beacon Hill, Back Bay, etc....actually Beacon Hill recently banned college students ) for half the price of a typical dorm room. A one bedroom could still be cheaper, and if you find roommates, any neighborhood-no matter how luxurious-will still end up being cheaper per student than living in a dorm. And, you don't get kicked out over the breaks.
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Originally Posted by davidv
Kansas: Major City: Kansas City; Universities in Lawrence and Manhattan
Even though there is a Kansas City, KS, it is mostly just a suburb of Kansas City, MO. The downtown, business and entertainment districts, and at lest 3/4 of the metro are in Missouri.
Besides, why didn't you mention Wichita-Kansas' largest city? Or Overland Park? Topeka? Anyways, I lived in Lawrence, KS., and while KU seems to be at least half-dorms, many students still lived off-campus. For one, it was cheaper, and two, Lawrence is fairly small so "commuting" is not a hassle.
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Originally Posted by eevee
UMass Boston doesn't even have dorms, though I've heard they're trying to build some. it fits your description to a T: school catered more towards commuter and non traditional students.
Umass Boston has "tried" to build dorms for at least a decade now. The hold-up has to do with near-by residents. The little nub of a peninsula that houses Umass Boston is also home to the JFK Library and a high school. In fact, the high school could easily be mistaken as being a part of UMBs campus it's so close (litteraly right next to each other). Then, you have apartments/condos near-by, too. Those who live in these complexes have expressed concerns that dorms would ruin their quality of life, but they do rent to UMB students. I do believe, however, that UMB plans to have dorms up by 2015. Or is it 2020?
Out of the 80 or so colleges in the Boston metro, UMB is the only public. They tend to get local students that cannot afford anything higher than in-state tuition, so dorms might be priced out of their range. They also have a high number of non-traditional students. So, dorms would not be desireable to them. I am not sure who dorms would benefit?
[quote=davidv;17215641]One of the reasons many students stay in the dorms is because American public universities, especially in the west, are not located in the major cities. Here are some examples:
Oklahoma: Major cities: Tulsa and Ok City; Universities in Norman and Stillwater
Um, Norman is basically a suburb of OKC.
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Originally Posted by K-Luv
These privately owned dorms/student apartments seem to be becoming more popular. They take pressure and responsibility away from the college and are open to any student. I've known people that went this route; they don't sound much different than the typical college dorm.
DS's is more of an apartment than a dorm. It's large sprawling apartment complex with beach pool,club house, workout room etc. If you were just driving by, or even if you went inside, you would think you were in an upscale apartment complex. His is a four bedroom/four bath two story townhouse. There are several like it in his town. Currently, he has two roomates. The 3rd bedroom is unrented, so the management keeps the bedroom door locked, so they cannot access it. I have seen the private dorms, as someone else mentioned in Austin. They are just that, dorms.
My kids could not afford to live on campus. I did well just paying for tution, and books. They all graduated, with no loans. So, kids with well off parents, can probably afford to live on campus. Kids who take out student loans, can afford probably afford it...but why do that if you can live at home for free?
Commuting schools.. no. Examples, CUNY, SF State, etc.
Non-commuting schools (Princeton, Penn State).. most kids will start by living in the dorms then perhaps move out.
We don't have really have private residential colleges here, similar to those we had at Uni Adelaide.
yeah going back to the original question, i think it depends on the Uni. If its what, the call a "commuter school" (e.g. urban public university such as Hunter college, SF State).. nope. But if the uni attracts lots of students from out of state (interstate) most will live on campus. Quite a few liberal arts colleges require freshies to live on campus at least for the first ear.
Would you say most (more than half) of American college students live in dorms? Even if they're going to college in the same city they live in? Is it seen as a rite of passage for most college aged kids?
Here in Australia we only have a few major cities and most people go to local universities (we call them 'unis'). Most people just stayed at home (if they hadn't moved out, although in Australia there's this thing where many young middle class kids remain at home well into their 20s) and commuted to university. Only overseas students or those from the country would stay in the dorms or rent, so there was no 'dorm culture' like in the States.
I'm just wondering if it's a thing most kids do, or if that's just how it's portrayed in the movies/TV.
Speaking from personal experience at a small Midwestern Catholic university (College of St. Scholastica for those wondering):
I would estimate 60-70% of the students were either from small-town Minnesota or Wisconsin, 25-35% from the local area, and about 5% from either foreign countries or not from MN, WI, or the UP of MI. The university had a "residency requirement": you had to either live in the dorms for your first two years of college or with a local relative. For students from outside the area, that usually meant living in a dorm or on-campus apartment for the first two years. All the freshmen lived in one hall (boys on one floor, girls on the two others), while the sophomores could choose any on-campus apartment except those limited to juniors and seniors. Some local freshmen and sophomores (I would say about a half of them) chose to live in the dorms despite it not being required of them.
A large percentage, perhaps a majority of juniors and seniors (who were not under the residency requirement), lived either in an off-campus house (the houses near the city's two major universities were mostly occupied by college students) with other students (usually 3 - 5 split the rent of a house, coming to $250 - $400 per individual student) or one of the newer "luxury student housing" apartments (about $450 / month shared). To my knowledge, both of the two off-campus options were cheaper than any on-campus housing, even a dorm with a shared bathroom, and came with less restrictions. Even local students who lived with their families in their freshman year tended to move out and find a house or apartment in the area by their junior year.
It is certainly viewed as a right-of-passage in American culture, and a dramatic one at that. Usually it entails a transition from a home with relatively strict rules to an environment where "anything goes", as long as it is under the radar of the R.A.'s ("enforcers" or whatever the housing arrangement's rules are).
Most worked at least part-time (popular choices were a personal care assistant or aide at an old folk's home or a clerk at a local retailer) and it was a rare student, either on- or off-campus, who did not have a car. Usually those living off-campus, even within convenient bus time or walking distance to school, drove there all year round, creating much frustration for a commuter student (who lived with my family) like myself, who was outside the range of any public transport option.
I also did a summer research internship at the University of South Florida, one of the largest schools in the nation (I believe it had around 35,000 undergraduates alone). They were trying at the time, and probably still are, to change it from a "commuter school" to a residential school. Most of the students were from Florida (although a considerable percentage were not) and seemed to commute in from a local apartment. Many student apartment complexes exist near the college, usually with luxurious amenities (e.g. a giant swimming pool) and relatively low rents. A residency requirement is now in force there for students in their freshman year.
Kansas: Major City: Kansas City; Universities in Lawrence and Manhattan
FWIW, Kansas City, at least the one you are ostensibly talking about (i.e. the large city and the one that's home to universities) is in Missouri, not Kansas. There is a much smaller Kansas City, Kansas, but it's not the one generally referred to when people talk about Kansas City. Wichita has a larger population than KCK, and, come to that, so does the KCMO suburb of Overland Park.
Would you say most (more than half) of American college students live in dorms? Even if they're going to college in the same city they live in? Is it seen as a rite of passage for most college aged kids?
Here in Australia we only have a few major cities and most people go to local universities (we call them 'unis'). Most people just stayed at home (if they hadn't moved out, although in Australia there's this thing where many young middle class kids remain at home well into their 20s) and commuted to university. Only overseas students or those from the country would stay in the dorms or rent, so there was no 'dorm culture' like in the States.
I'm just wondering if it's a thing most kids do, or if that's just how it's portrayed in the movies/TV.
i think you'll find most students who attend large universities even if the school is in a small town in the middle of nowhere live off campus and smaller schools provide a more traditional setting. even your older land grant universities don't see 60% plus on campus enrollment. michigan state, one of the original land grant schools only has 50% on campus enrollment. my school The University of Toledo is something like 25% and when i was there it was something 15%. now grant it UT is in the middle of an urban area with apartments surrounding it.
even Miami Univ. in Oxford, OH and Ohio Univ. in Athens, OH which are in the middle of nowhere have less than 50% on campus enrollments.
I just attended an information session for a smallish (5,000 students) private college last night and they said they were moving to a totally residential campus because they said that after researching other colleges to see what they could do to improve, they found that students that lived on campus were much more likely to participate in college activities. Students that live off campus were more likely to think of school as a job and leave at the end of classes and only come back to campus for classes. That makes sense to me, but I hope that they make that affordable by offering self-cooking options. The reason many kids don't like to live on campus is because the meal plans are so expensive and that's usually tied to on-campus living.
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