<p>DD insisted on off campus living after her 2nd year, I was against it, but I let her try anyway. In a grand scale of things you really do not get much benefit by living off campus. My arguments were:</p>
<ol>
<li>The off campus living will add some commuting time. Although not much.</li>
<li>If saving food money was the main issue, the amount of savings is not much either, if the total cost of full ride is 250k for four years, a 10k saving is not much difference. Ok, lets say each quarter is 10 weeks, even you cook the food, it will still end up cost $100/week or $1000/qtr. a saving of 700$/qtr or around 10K for four years, big deal. We send the kid to college to learn, not to learn supermarket shopping, food preparation or cooking. The time wasted on those activities could be used to socialize, study or any other betterment. If the GPA is affected by living off campus, the 250k investment weigh much more than savings on food.</li>
<li>In order to get better location off campus apartment, you need to search it real early, like March, DD had some roommates issues last year(one of the roommates dropped out at the last moment) and did not look for apartment until May, so the location is a bit off and we worry about her safety.</li>
<li>When you search for apartments late, you get crappy apartments, in addition to bad location. DD ended up with a room without window and heater, there was a skylight nevertheless. When we flew in to help her to move, my wife was not happy with DD’s selection.</li>
<li>Yes, you get larger living quarters, but most of the time students do not study in the dorm. Dorm is for sleeping and take showers. You don’t need all these off campus living hassles such as furnishing, moving and such. We had to rent a van and drove all over Hyde Park to buy Used furniture.</li>
<li>Once you are out of the Dorm, the chances of gaining new friends are much less, as the other poster pointed out, her kid kept only a few friends from the house. </li>
</ol>
<p>All in all, I am the firm believer to stay in the dorm, heck through the four year with good grades, lots of connections and get a better job upon graduation.</p>