Nothing beats the personal freedom of apartment life

Life in the WSU residence halls is something that nearly every student must experience for at least a year. After that, most of us transition to the apartment life.

It’s not that residence hall life is the worst thing in the world, it’s just that apartment life is so much better. Once you’re living the apartment life, you won’t want to go back.

Based on my own personal experience, apartment life is better for three primary reasons: saving money, personal freedom, and you don’t have to deal with the stupidity of others as much.

According to the WSU website, the average cost for room and board for the 2014-15 academic year is more than $11,000. It could be more or less depending on the meal plan and the residence hall.

This year, I am sharing a four-bedroom apartment with two people and we each pay a little more than $450 a month for rent, electricity, internet and water. I spend about $260 a month on groceries and gas. In a year, I’ve spent about $8,520 for living expenses.

I know that looked like an elementary school math problem, but those savings are real. Living in an apartment has saved me about $2,500 per year, and if college students need help with anything, it’s managing their money on a strict budget.

Aside from saving money, the living conditions in an apartment are much better than in a residence hall. You get to choose your roommates and you get your own kitchen and bathroom. You get so much more freedom having your own place.

As far as getting to class, I take the buses that come very frequently. Sometimes the buses get kind of crowded, but the admission is free so I don’t mind. However, if you don’t want to take the bus, you can always use some of your savings from the previous calculation to buy a parking pass so you can just drive to class and not deal with people.

Lastly, sometimes residence hall life gets hectic when other people are being obnoxious. While I was living in my residence hall, the fire alarm in the building would go off whenever someone burned some food in the kitchen or in their room in the microwave. There were also a few instances of people smoking in the stairwell. Every time the fire alarm went off, the entire building had to evacuate, and this would occasionally happen in the middle of the night.

In an apartment, you only have to worry about yourself and your roommates causing chaos, which is much easier to control. Basically, you don’t have to deal with other people being stupid nearly as often as living the residence halls.

That being said, there are some positives to the residence hall life.

Socially, the residence hall life is a great opportunity to meet new people and get involved in activities on campus. It makes sense that WSU encourages students to live in a residence hall their first year, but I don’t think it should be a requirement.

Though I doubt that rule will change any time soon, I would strongly recommend that everyone look into apartment life. Be sure to find the right apartment and the right roommates, otherwise apartment life will just be another inconvenience.