Going to college is the biggest decision to date for someone who is 18 years old, and choosing where to go is an even tougher decision.

Picking a school that requires a long car ride or even a plane ride might seem scary, with students having to leave everything they have ever known behind. Yet it is a good way to have a fresh start, and students should consider it.

A lot of times when people stay close to home for college, they are tempted to come home every weekend. This defeats the point of living at school, and it’s a waste of room and board payments.

When students go further away from home, they are unable to come home all the time, and they are forced to be more independent and make new friends.

Going to college away from home causes people to fully experience the college life because they need to branch out and make friends. They will have to go to the social events the college offers to make friends because their high school friends will not be with them anymore.

Students will also have to learn how to be more independent when they go further away. They will have to manage their classes, find time to eat a balanced diet, learn how to do laundry, and keep their dorm and themselves clean.

Going to school that is not close to home makes students gain responsibility. They will need to learn the logistics of a new place as well as learn how to make decisions for themselves.

Some people going to local colleges may not fully learn these skills because they don’t always have to worry about them while still partly under their parents’ guidance.

The cost of college is very high, but colleges often try to make them more affordable to students who are coming from far away. Sometimes schools that are not as close to home will give someone who lives far away more scholarship money or financial aid because they want people from all different places to boost diversity in their schools.

College is a huge decision for any person to make, but going further away develops more life skills and causes people to be more ready for the future.

The fear of leaving home hangs over the heads of many high school senior as they prepare to move far away to start their college journey.

In addition to the fact that moving away means students will be far from everything that they have become comfortable with their whole lives, going to college far away is just not economical.

For that reason, going to school relatively close to home makes more sense.

The cost of going to college turns out to be much higher for students who plan to attend a school that is far away from their home. There are many other expenses for these students that makes going away to college less than ideal.

For students who go to a public college in a different state, the most obvious extra expense is the cost of tuition. Out-of-state tuition at a state school costs an ample amount more than tuition for students attending a public college within the state they reside. This can bring on more burdens to students when it comes time to pay back their student loans.

Going to college far away also requires some sort of transportation to get there, and in many cases students may bring a car to campus with them. The downfall to bringing a car is that most schools require students to purchase a parking pass each semester, and those parking passes are not cheap. On top of that, students are required to pay the fee both semesters each year they chose to bring their car with them.

Although some of these expenses may seem minor, added together they could make moving far away too expensive for some students to afford.

Moving far away to a new place also brings the struggle of being all alone. Students become immersed in a new environment that they have to explore all by themselves. While this could be good for students to learn a sense of independence, if there was an emergency or if they need help, their parents are hours away.  

Students living close to home are still able to go home on the weekends, and even enjoy a home-cooked meal every once in a while.

Some college students who do not live far away are able to go home during finals week to decompress from their stressful classes and study for their tests in a comfortable environment.

Students going to school far away are faced with more hardships to overcome on top of the challenge that college already presents.