Live at home Freshman Year?

JL50ish
Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:17:34 +0000

Does you flagship require freshman to live on campus? If so, do they allow waivers for students who live VERY closeby?

If you must do this for financial reasons, then do so. If you fear that your child won’t have “the college experience” then consider these options…

1) Encourage your child to join various clubs/activities. Get involved with Homecoming activities and such.

2) purchase a “minimum meal plan” so that your child can sometimes eat with the “residents.” (Obviously she would need to schedule her classes in such a way to accomodate such.)

3) encourage your child (if possible) to get an “on campus” part-time job. Even if most jobs go to the “work study” crowd, there may be other jobs available. My son works as a “college paid” tutor, so that’s not “work study” related.

4) get involved in campus “study groups”

5) arrange her schedule so that she can have some “study time” or “relaxing time” in the school “coffee house” during the day.

There are many things a “commuter student” can do to “connect” with their campus. Think “outside the box” for other ideas.

Now… for this to work… you must treat your child as if she were going away… That means that:
she will be gone from home a lot (don’t make her feel guilty about that ),
she won’t be available for many/most “family” activities,
she won’t be home for dinner that much,
she won’t keep “your” curfew (often!),
she can stay out late on school nights,
she won’t be able to do the “chores” that she used to do (but she can certainly do her own laundry

In other words, you need to let her do what she would do if she were living away…

Garland makes a point… Kids who stay at home need to have families that respect that this is a new stage in their lives.