Living on Campus or Living Off Campus

Living on campus
Living on campus

Living off campus
Living off campus
VS.
VS.

Live on campus or live off campus Recently, one of the most popular issues that students are talking about is where to live in the next academic year. Some students believe that live on campus is a better choice because living in resident halls on campus is convenient and safe. Some other students think that live off campus is better, because it will have fewer restrictions and a better accommodation. Each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages. That’s why I was struggling for this issue for a long time. After careful consideration, I believe that live on campus is a better choice and I have a lot of reasons to support it.
First of all, live on campus is safer. Living on campus will dramatically reduce the potential possibilities of accidents on the roads like car accident, robbery and sexual assault. There is a famous murder case, which generated international attention earlier this year. Wu and Qu, two 23-year-old electrical engineering graduate students of University of Southern California who come from China, were shot when they were driving home in a BMW sedan from the library around 1 a.m. on April 11. (nbclosangeles.com) The criminal’s motive of murder is robbery. Just because they lived off campus and had to drive back home, the two young lives stops suddenly in the most beautiful period of their life and left endless sadness to their friends and families. According to a survey from Trinity College, 60.2% of students indicated that they felt safe on campus and 28.4% felt unsafe. (Grace Kim). There is another accident just happened around us. A friend of my parents lost his son in a car accident in America. He was a student of Indiana University and at one day he drove home, his car crashed into a big tree and caused a fire. He was burned to death in the car. Safety is always the most important thing for college students, especially for international students, since their parents are thousands miles away and worries about them all the time. Because of safety, living on campus is better choice than living off campus.
Besides the reason of safety, resident halls also create a perfect environment to live and study. Taking the example of Michigan State University First, the resident halls supply various kinds of services, which are all very useful and necessary. When you have any troubles and questions, you can go to the front desk to ask for help; When people are ill, they can go to the health center, the nurses and doctors there will give people prescriptions and suggestions for health in time; When you miss lunches or even hungry at midnight, small cafeterias, like the Sparty’s will offer warm food, drink and snacks for you. The staffs in resident halls are always friendly and patient, which make us feel warm. Second, there are a lot of resources in resident halls. Since I don’t know them very well, I interviewed the resident assistant in our floor. Her name is Doneisha Parker and she is a sophomore in accounting major. She briefly introduced the 23 resources of resident halls on campus and focused on 3 most useful ones. Math Learning center (MLC), which can give you math tuition on every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Writing center, which can give you suggestions for the papers you are working on by appointment. Yoga and Zumba classes three times a week are good for your health and beauty. All of these resources are very helpful and they are free. Third, people can have their individual place for rest and study between classes. In college study, there is always a large amount of time between classes. People live on campus can go back to their dorms for rest, study, or entertainment. People live off campus, however, have to stay in libraries or some other places during these breaks. According to a study, which investigated the relationship of loneliness, social support, and living arrangements with academic persistence decisions of 401 college freshmen, freshmen living on campus had higher GPAs (M= 2.85, SD = .73) than those living off campus (M = 2.59, SD = .92)(Nicpon 345-358)
Another reason that makes me believe that live on campus is a better choice than live off campus is that we can meet more people and have more friends. There are so many chances to meet new friends if you live on campus. First of all, you will know the people live on the same floor with you since you meet with each other everyday. Also, you will know a lot of people from the activities and clubs in resident halls if you participate in actively. For example, the Hubbard hall in Michigan State University has an international Club. This club organizes activities and meetings every week and creates a perfect environment for communication between students from different countries. What’s more, having meals in cafeteria, studying in public area are also the chances to meet people and make new friends. If living off campus, however, most of these will be impossible.
Because of the safety, the great environment and more chances to make friend, I prefer to live on campus when I become a sophomore. I hope that I can have a great time on campus.

Works Cited
Grace Kim, Safety and Education at Trinity College, 20 December 2004

Nicpon, Megan Foley, et al. “The relationship of loneliness and social support with college freshmen’s academic performance and persistence.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 8.3 (2006): 345-358

Doneisha Parker, Personal Interview, 22 October 2012

Nbclosanglas.com: Police: Forensic Evidence Tied USC Murder Suspects to Earlier Crimes, by Melissa Pamer and Samantha Tata, May 19, 2012
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Police-Forensic-Evidence-Tied-USC-Murder-Suspects-to-Earlier-Crimes-152147955.html

Cited: Grace Kim, Safety and Education at Trinity College, 20 December 2004 Nicpon, Megan Foley, et al. “The relationship of loneliness and social support with college freshmen’s academic performance and persistence.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 8.3 (2006): 345-358 Doneisha Parker, Personal Interview, 22 October 2012 Nbclosanglas.com: Police: Forensic Evidence Tied USC Murder Suspects to Earlier Crimes, by Melissa Pamer and Samantha Tata, May 19, 2012 http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Police-Forensic-Evidence-Tied-USC-Murder-Suspects-to-Earlier-Crimes-152147955.html