To Dorm Or Not To Dorm?

By:Kevin Crowley

This time of year high school seniors make the biggest decision of their lives. Whether to dorm or commute to college.

Loren Wignall and Eric Brand both started off staying in a dorm. But Wignall now commutes.

Wignall, a sophomore at Stony Brook University, spent her freshman year at the University of Richmond in Virgina. She loved staying on campus, but found that it was difficult to study among all her friends. After her freshman year, Loren transferred home and is now commuting to Stony Brook.

Wignall says, "I loved dorming, I really did. The freedom to do what I want, when I wanted was excellent. To be honest, the main reason I came home was to change majors. But now that I am home, I feel school has become much easier because now that I can go to sleep and wake up when I want, without the worry of a roommate, I am able to use my time much more conveniently."

Brand, a sophomore at SUNY Cortland, disagrees and says, "I actually enjoy living on my own. I look forward to doing laundry and cleaning, because it is all my own. I do not have to worry about doing anything on someone else's time, but instead I do it when it is most convenient to me."

"The first week all I could think about was my family and friends, however you make new friends that are all in the same situation as you and eventually it all becomes normal."

Holidays become a major issue for many students. Wignall said, "I came home for all major holidays because it just did not seem right missing any with them. Traveling was usually difficult because of traffic, but it was time time I truly needed with my family." Brand says, "The first major holiday for me freshman year was my Mother's Birthday. Her Birthday is at the end of September and I was extremely happy to get home. I was home sick and just did not want to be there anymore. By Thanksgiving, I found myself not even wanting to go home because I would miss my school friends."

A roommate can either make your stay at college the best of your life or the worst. Wignall says, "My roommate was awful. I love to rise early and get my day started. My roommate would not schedule a class until 11:45. So I would have to wake up, shower, and get dressed all while tip towing around my room. The process was very difficult and annoying. Now that I am home, it is such a treat being able to shower and get ready in my own process without worrying about waking someone up." However, Brand and his roommate had a different relationship. Brand says, "I love my roommate he is probably one of my best friends now. We would help wake one another up, if we had class. We would go out on weekends together. He was a major reason the transition to school became so easy."

Another major concern is meal plans for high school seniors. Neither student had any compliments to give about food. Brand says, "Eating was difficult. I ran out of meal plan by around October and had to add an extra semester's full of food money onto my card. The food was not good, but I found that when I was bored or had a break till my next class I would eat. So food really put a hole in my pocket." Wignall agreed saying, "The food was not very good, and was an inconvenience to not be able to go right to your kitchen to get food, rather you had to walk across campus."able to go right to your kitchen to get food, rather you had to walk across campus."