<p>I think this is something people fuss about only when it’s unusual.</p>
<p>In Maryland, it is far from unusual. Our flagship state university, the University of Maryland at College Park, is less than an hour’s drive from our state’s two main population centers (the Baltimore and DC Metro areas). Vast numbers of students who officially live on campus can go home whenever they want to. </p>
<p>Different UMCP students make different choices. </p>
<p>Some go home every weekend. Some even have weekend jobs at home. Some spend some weeknights at home as well, especially if they don’t have classes the next morning. Others never go home except during the official breaks. And still others make choices somewhere between these two extremes. My own son, when he was a UMCP student, did not routinely come home for weekends, but he did come home for medical and dental appointments and when he wanted to shop, and he would sometimes stay at home overnight on those occasions. That’s what worked best for him. Other kids make other choices.</p>
<p>And somehow, despite all this variation, the kids mostly seem to do just fine. Maybe it’s because for them, this is not a weird situation. It’s a situation that applies to something like half of their classmates, and nobody seems to make a big deal about it.</p>