Living on campus is required at Baker. It’s something that’s either liked or hated by students. Most hate it because it’s a lot more expensive to live on campus than it is to live off. Not only do we pay for our room and board with this, but we also pay for a meal plan. These together really add to our overall cost of school.

With that said, I happen to agree with living on campus. I’ve lived the past three years in a residence hall and I think that it has really enriched my time here.

Living off campus can really take a toll on the social aspect of college. Having to travel from another location to meet up can change everything. If you live in Lawrence, then you have at least a 20-minute drive to get to Baldwin City. In that 20 minutes, the plans can start and be half over.

The commute can hinder how deep these relationships are, too. It’s far easier to walk down the hall or across campus to talk to a friend than it is to have to call and wait for someone to come here or to meet up with you. I have one friend from high school and we talk every day, but there are a lot of things she doesn’t know about simply for the fact that she wasn’t around for it. The immediate availability of people on campus is something that we really only experience in our undergraduate days.

There are also benefits when it comes to the academic side. Obviously, there are more resources with the access to the library. However, living on campus makes it easier to meet with course tutors or meet with a classmate to work on homework or study together. The support of peers in the collegiate environment is very helpful. With the amount of stress we go through, we need the support of our peers that are going through the same stuff.

Considering myself personally, motivation is a huge thing as well. The fact that I am already within a five-minute walk to any class building I am 10 times more likely to go to class. If I had to drive on the highway and find a place to park, I would go to a lot fewer classes because the commute would be a struggle.

Regardless of the cost, the rule that we live on campus can greatly enrich our college careers. We get the opportunity to live closely with people that truly understand what we go through on a daily basis, which is something that we don’t truly get at any other time in our lives. Once we graduate, we go into the real world and work with people that understand only one part of our lives. They understand us as working individuals or as roommates or classmates, but never will anyone really get the struggle of that 8:30 a.m. class after being up until 3 a.m. working on a variety of subjects. So while the money is a huge downside, the benefit of the Baker community far outweighs it.