Selecting colleges to apply to and eventually to attend can be a difficult process. With so many options to choose from narrowing your search parameters by deciding if you want to stay local or travel farther away can make the choices seem more manageable.

Top 10 reasons to leave home

Artwork by Melina Illigner

1.Freedom

College is a time to experience life on your own. Leaving home means you have the freedom to make your own decisions without your parent’s shadow. Even if your parents aren’t the hovering type their presence can sometimes stop you from making decisions completely on your own. Without them nearby, you can do whatever you want whenever you want.

2. Reinvent yourself

Going to a new city or state gives you a chance to start over. No one knows who you are or what you did in high school. You don’t have a reputation so you can be whoever you want to be. Your past is just that: the past. It’s fresh start. Especially coming from a small town like Londonderry where everyone knows everyone else the anonymity of going to college away from home can be refreshing.

3. Meet new people

Going to a college far away pretty much guarantees that few other Londonderry grads will attend the same school. This means you will meet a variety of new people from around the country. You will learn to live with people you have not known your whole life and get a different perspective on life.

4. Experience a new culture

Each region of the country has its own traditions. People from New Hampshire drink Dunkin Donuts and say “wicked.” By going to a new place for college you will experience new traditions, sports, and food you would not get by staying close to home.

5. Step out of your comfort zone

Staying home for college is comfortable. Change can be scary and it is tempting to stay in the same place you’ve known forever. However leaving home will give you the opportunity to step out of that comfort zone and discover things about yourself that you otherwise wouldn’t.

6. Appreciate your family more

Being away from your support system will make you appreciate it more. Sometimes you take all the things you have like your parents for granted. Until you go without your Mom making you dinner and doing your laundry you won’t appreciate it.

7. Independence

You aren’t going to live with your parents your whole life. It is good to learn how to take care of yourself in college before going into the real world. College is a time to learn what it is like to be on your own without your parents breathing down your neck.

8. Make new connections

Leaving the state allows you to network and make new connections that will help you later in life. Most colleges have alumni around the world.

9. Learn life skills

When you are on your own away from your parents you have to learn how to take care of yourself. You have to cook, clean, organize your time, and balance school and friends all on your own. It gives you the chance to experience the real world without actually being in the real world. You have to learn life skills without the stress of bills or finding a job.

10. Make your own mistakes

College is a time to make mistakes. It is a time to discover who you are and who you want to be. This means you will discover who you don’t want to be along the way. Having the chance to make mistakes without the repercussions of the real world means you won’t make as many when you are truly on your own.

Top 10 reasons to stay near by

Artwork by Melina Illinger

1.Save Money

In-state tuition can save you a lot of money, possibly even $10,000 less per year than an out-of-state student would get. That’s $40,000 back in your wallet. Also, the closer you live to home, the higher the possibly that you could commute to school and dodge the pricey cost of room and board. You can save a lot of money by attending a college near home in your state.

2. Closer to family and friends

Going super far away from home is going to separate you from the only people you have ever known. College is an opportunity to make new friends and live without your parents, but you shouldn’t have to completely abandon them either. Staying close to home will allow you to experience meeting new people while also keeping in touch with the people who you have spent the last 18 years with. 

3. Home Cooked Meals and Laundry

Who wouldn’t miss these things? When you are sitting in your dorm room piling ramen noodles into your mouth, you’re probably imagining that you are eating Mom’s delicious lasagna instead. Also, wouldn’t it be great to come home and hand that giant dirty laundry bag to your loving mom who will wash it for you? It’s not always a bad thing to let your parents take care of you.

4. Support System

Staying near Mom and Dad is also going to help you when you adjust to college life your freshman year. Sure, there is always Skype and Facetime, but being able to go home a couple times during the first semester will help students ease into the college lifestyle. Parents can provide you support and encouragement through those rough, first months if you stay near them.

5. More familiar with the area and local colors

Chances are, you have already visited a school close to home many times. You are already familiar with the area, and it’s assumed by now that you are aware of NH’s laws, culture, and dialects. Being familiar with the local color is a major advantage when trying to make new friends because you already have much more in common with people who grew up in the same place you did. Also, driving around the in-state college town will be much easier in terms of finding the local grocery store and gas stations without getting lost.

6. Proximity in case of Emergencies

Being close to your family means you will be there if anything were to happen to them. If a family member had an accident you won’t have to worry about making the long trip home to be with them. This goes the same way if something were to happen to you. Your parents would be close by to bring you soup if you get sick or provide support if you are injured.

7. Less Transportation Expenses

Having to spend money on flight tickets, buses, parking at bus stations and airports, taxis, etc. is and other transportation costs when you are very far away from home is expensive and time consuming. As a college student you are living on a budget and all the transportation costs add up. It is easier to bring a car from home if you go to college near by than to ship one out if your college allows students to have cars.

8. Strong Alumni Support System

Any college you go to is going to have an alumni support system. However if you go to a school close to where you’ve grown up then chances are you know someone who has graduated from or attends that school. You already have connections that will help you transition into school and into the real world after graduation.

9.Internship Opportunities

Staying close to home means you can stay in the area during the summer. This means if you get an internship or job on campus you don’t have to struggle to find housing over the summer, you can just live at home.

10. Aviod Homesickness

Any student heading off to college is stepping out of his/her comfort zone and experiencing a whole new world. Family is not always going to be there to hold your hand along the way. However, homesickness can be very detrimental for some students and being located closer to home and support is comforting to know while he/she is in class. You can always take a semester abroad to experience life away from home, but especially for freshman year, staying close to home makes the transition easier.