For those who plan on going to college, it’s that time of year where high school seniors struggle to choose where to dedicate one’s next two or more years of higher learning. A huge issue that most students keep in mind when choosing a college is determining whether or not they want to stay home or move away for college.

Money can be a strong influence on making this decision. There is no denying that moving away and living on campus is much more expensive than staying at home and attending a local college. Not only is living in a dorm costly, there are many other expenses a student may forget to account for.

Unless parents are sending money each week, the student would have to pay for expenses such as: household appliances, food, laundry, hygiene products, gas, etc. A person may not realize that by moving away, one could truly be on his/her own and all of the costs that were not accounted for may become financially overwhelming.

Another big reason why a person would want to stay home is because they may miss the comfort of home or family. Depending on how far someone moves away, one may not get to see their family very often.  This may be very rough very some people. Especially if the person is very close with his or her family.  This can be solved however by moving away but still staying within reasonable driving range.

‘If I move away, I want it to be a one to three hour drive… close enough to visit home on the weekend,” said Tom Brunner, a student from Elder. This is a very good way of solving this issue and it should be something students should take into consideration when choosing colleges.

On the other hand, maybe the student wants the independence from his/her parents. Some people may feel tied down because they have lived under certain rules and conditions of their parents their whole lives.

College student Sebastian Steege said, “I wanted to move out of my house so that I didn’t have to follow the rules of my parents that I did not agree with.” The extra money may be well worth the feeling of freedom.

Seton student, Abby Rollinger, said that she wants to move away so that she can have a taste of the real world before she gets a serious job. Many people may want to do the same thing so they can learn what it’s like to be on their own.  Without parents around, life becomes much more difficult. Parents do their best to make life easy for their kids.  But by living on your own, you may become better at coping with real world problems.

Some people may not have a preference. Maybe it comes down to money or a longing for independence. There are positives and negatives to each side, but to each his/her own.