Four years in a Freshman dormitory

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I just remembered that I spent 4 years in a freshman dorm--it was a great way to learn and practice social skills. Certainly something Aspies should consider if they can afford it.

I don't get why you Americans treat college like a boarding school. Why do you all have to live on campus?

It's four years of quasi-independence. And it could be fun.

It could, at times, be a good transition into adulthood.

Alas, we don't get Youth Allowance.

I'm in my first year at a university and am in a freshman dorm, even though I'm a junior. Everyone else in my hallway plays hockey and is a huge jock; there's nobody I can relate to at all, so I spend almost all of my time in my dorm alone.

I see your point. I can understand how it could be a lot of fun. I can understand how it would be good for youths to get away from their parents. I can understand why it would help with the transition to adult independence. All good things.

I just don't understand how you can pay for it. The tuition alone is quite expensive but adding living costs on top of that would make it even more expensive. Do you pay rent on your college dorm room? Is the food expensive? Does your student loan cover accommodation?

Yes, you don't get Youth Allowance so why make it more expensive on yourselves? If you wanted to rent your own room and pay for your own food while studying, it would be easier to do this while getting $550 per fortnight compared with while getting zero.

Usually, the parents pay for the dorm and tuition. Sometimes (rarely), students get scholarships that include tuition and dorm costs. Some get partial scholarships, and work to pay the rest--or the parents pay the rest.

Dorm rooms are rented by the semester. Students usually buy "meal plans," paid for either by themselves or their parents.

Some students get off-campus housing, and live independently.

So if your parents didn't go to college, they can't afford to send you to college. I suppose in this way, wealth or lack thereof run in a generational cycle.

Yes, I realise poor kids are expected to work their way through college but if they're graded on a curve I think all this extra work could give them less time and less energy to work on their assignments, putting them at a disadvantage.

Imagine how tiring it would be, having a work/study load consisting of 16 hour days, while competing against someone who just studies.

To go to a private college, kids can't "work their way through" these days. They invariably get into debt, like the cartoon states.

However, there are times when the benefits of a professional career outweigh the debts incurred.

It is sort of a racket, though.

I staid in a freshman dorm all four years. Luckily for me I had a corner room and quiet neighbors.

When I was an undergraduate, you had to have special permission to move off campus at my college. They wanted to try to fill all the dorm rooms. Living with your parents or being married was automatic permission to move off campus, but many married students lived in on campus married student housing.

In many ways, I liked living on campus more. It was convenient to everything. I could usually easily go a month or more without driving a car even though there was no public transportation at all.

I know of one university where nearly everyone lives on campus.

It's Rockefeller University.

My understanding is that there are no tuition and fees of any kind. The university provides each student with a dorm room or an apartment if married, both on campus. It also pays a generous stipend to cover your ordinary expenses.

The trick is that Rockefeller University only offers two degrees -- a PhD in certain hard sciences and an MD. There are no undergraduate degrees there.I think that they have something like 130 or so students. If you want to become a doctor and can get admitted to Rockefeller University, you can probably graduate with no debt at all.