Being at home might drive you nuts now, but you might find that in a year or so it doesn’t bother you at all. You’ll save tons of money staying there, and you might find that you can spend lots of time on campus, studying in the library, working a job on or off campus, etc. If you can get in the habit of showing up at home to eat and sleep, you’ll have a good deal going. Your relationship with your parents will probably change, and most likely improve, once college starts and they ease up a bit. That doesn’t always happen (for me it sure didn’t) but normally it does.

My suggestion would be to suck it up and just live at home. It will take forever to pay back your student loans after you graduate and why borrow money if you can make enough to pay for school. You will be so relieved to graduate without any loan debt! And if you feel a little odd still living at home you could make it more like you are a renter by giving your parents a little bit of money each week to help out with food and utility costs while you live with them. It wouldn’t have to be very much but will help your parents see you as a responsible adult and not just your kid still hanging at home.

Try to set up your room with a study area, a small couch or chair and a tv. That way if you want to entertain a friend, you can hang out in your ‘apartment’ and not disrupt your parents in the rest of the house. This will help you feel like you have your own ‘place’. Just be sure to keep it clean and don’t leave your stuff all over the rest of the house. This is great training for when you can afford to move out and will have roomates. Good Luck with your Degree!

Do not take out a loan. Suck it up and stay home (and get a part time job to start saving). My reasoning behind this is that they offer loans much too easily to college students, and students take them because it makes things easier at the time. However, when you graduate, and you are ready to purchase a home, or travel the world (or whatever you want to do) you are strapped with tons of loans, some of which were unnecesary. I managed to make it though college with no loans and it made after college so much easier. My friends actually have had to wait two years for their wedding, because HE had so many student loans to take care of, he couldn’t afford to buy her engagement ring and still pay his bills. Be cautious with student loans. It seems like free money, but it certainly is not! Besides, you can always get your own place in a year or two after you have stashed away some cash!

Good luck!

Suck it up and stay at home for at least the first couple of years, if not for the entire amount of time. The student loans will haunt you long, long, long after you finish college. If you can finish college without owing anything, it will make starting your career much easier. You will have your opportunities to party and hang out with other people while still living at home.

Yeah, it is nice to live on your own. But, it comes with it share of headaches, especially if you are having to scape by month to month.

One reasonable solution is to stay home for two years, do GREAT in school at the nearby place, save up your money, ask your parents to save too, and then transfer to a superior institution away from home to finish off your degree.

Otherwise yes, you’re going to need those loans. Student loans are not a disaster but you DO need to STUDY so that you can get a GOOD job and pay them off otherwise it’ll be real rough getting that first mortgage.

If you can’t pay for both, then you may not have a choice? Look around for a roommate that you might share an apartment or even a house with. Try posting this on the bulleltin boards at the college and on line. There are lots of others looking for a living arrangment so you might get lucky.

… i don’t know, the family should be one of your top priorities, and you don’t want to seem like you’re leaving them. Although college life is the best way to really become devoted to a job. If you are the kind of person that really can really dedicate yourself to your classes, then stay at home because the family needs you, too since you have your schoolwork covered. Although if you are someone that doesn’t have the heart to leave your gf and kids no matter what, then go to the dorm because your fam should be secure with your decision. I know this sounds weird and backwards, but it works. The choice just depends on the kind of person you are. But whatever you decide, you still need to find balance. Hope that helps, and good luck~

I agree with the person above me. In high school, I thought my parents were horrible and I wanted to move out. But I stayed at home my freshman year and they (especially my mom) changed. She was a lot more lenient and didn’t ask me so many questions about where I was going. She knew I wasn’t in high school anymore and that I could be trusted more.

take it from me, stay at home and live for free and save up your money, if you can live at home and go to college you will save lots of money and thank me for this piece of advice later, otherwise you are throwing money down the toilet

i think you should just stay at home, it isn’t worth all that money and hassle if it isnt necessary. when you move out and have all those bills to pay, you’re going to WISH you were still at home – responcibility free.