<p>* Although it would be relatively cheap to commute to CU I think it is important to have the dorm experience.*</p>
<p>I agree that having the dorm experience can help “connect” you to a college. BUT, you don’t have to go to Cal for that. </p>
<p>If you dorm at Boulder, you save $20k per year over Cal. AND, more importantly, you’d have the option of not dorming for the later years and saving more money. Think about it…you could dorm at Boulder for the first year or two, establish friendships, etc…and THEN commute for your later years. You’d save a bunch of money that way.</p>