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Is your student ready for an apartment?
From the Winter 2004 Parent Newsletter
Here are some obvious clues to indicate whether or not your student is ready
to live in an apartment.
 During
the past year, has your child made good choices? Are you confident
that she can manage her finances? Are you comfortable with the friends
she has made? Can she balance social, personal, and academic demands?
Apartment living adds a whole new list of duties to a student’s
schedule for cooking, cleaning, and commuting. Time management skills
are important.
Ask
your child why he wants to live off campus. Are you satisfied by
his answers? Most students say they can save money by living off
campus. Rent costs may sound less expensive than room and board in
the residence hall, but be sure he has considered groceries, transportation
costs, utilities—including computer hookups—and parking.
Are his estimates reasonable? In most college communities, on- and
off-campus expenses tend to be comparable, but an apartment might
mean a 12-month commitment. Students who say they will study better
in an apartment, or they can’t bear the noise or the food in
the dorm for another year, might be surprised to find that life is
no better in an apartment. But if your child says he is ready for
an apartment, he wants the responsibility of his own place, and he
recognizes that he will be taking care of himself, he is ready for
the next step in the growing-up process.
Adapted from You’re on Your Own (But I’m
Here If You Need Me): Mentoring Your Child During the College Years. © 2003
by Marjorie Savage. Published by Fireside Books, a division of Simon & Schuster,
Inc., with permission of the publisher.
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