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Month: February 2016

On Or Off: Campus Housing

Most of us have lived at home with our parents until at least our senior year of high school.

By educationworkadmin
Published on

Most of us have lived at home with our parents until at least our senior year of high school. I am a second year student at UC and I still live at home with my parents, but some 60% of UC students are more adventurous than I am and decided to move away from home and live among their peers. Although living on your own can be expensive, it can also be incredibly rewarding and even a smart investment. Those who do put forth the money and move out are forced to choose between on-campus and off-campus housing. If you find yourself unsure of what path to take, considering these pros and cons can help you make the right choice.

 

Academics

The fact that we spend so much money to attend college generally means that we place education as a top priority. Living on campus in a dorm has multiple benefits when considering schoolwork and academic success. For example, in a dorm you are already surrounded by other college students and odds are you may have even been paired with a roommate in the same major. This makes it easy to help each other study and stay on track as you spend more time together. Living off-campus doesn’t generally hurt your academics but you also don’t have the advantage of living with those are studying the same things as you.

There are also dorm rules to consider. Though the RA’s always bring an end to all the awesome parties you manage to throw in your tiny one-room abodes, they also keep your neighbors above and below quiet so you can focus on that calculus homework. In an off-campus house or apartment, there is no one to keep the peace in your house so if your roommates or neighbors are too loud for you to concentrate, you’re out of luck.

 

Cost

Dorms generally have a base fee that includes rent for a year, amenities and a meal plan. According to the University of Cincinnati’s website, the cost for living in a dorm for a year varies from $11,000 to a little over $13,000. The average price for renting a two-bedroom apartment in the university’s area costs around $800 per month. Split between two people and multiplied by twelve months, both people living in the apartment would be paying $4800 dollars a year to live there. Often times, rent for most apartments will cover things like heat and electric but almost never Wi-Fi or laundry. Also, apartments do not come with a meal plan which means a student must budget for groceries. However, unless you pay more than $6,200 a year for groceries, Wi-Fi, laundry, and other living expenses, it is cheaper to rent an apartment than to live in a dorm.

Still, the extra cost of a dorm might be better for students with a heavy workload. Cooking, cleaning, and worrying about monthly rent payments can be stressful and distracting; some may not be ready for this much responsibility as a freshman.

 

Social Life

Many students, particularly freshmen, want to enjoy the social aspects of higher education Many students find that the best way to meet new people is to live in a dorm. You are neighbors with hundreds of other students who want to make new friends just as much as you do. An apartment is a good way to become great friends with just one or two people (your roommates). One strategy that many students employ is living in a dorm for the first year and moving off-campus the second year with friends from freshman year. If you really want to completely immerse yourself socially, a dorm is probably your best bet.

 

Sources:

http://magazine.uc.edu/issues/0500/letters_to_the_editor.html

https://www.uc.edu/housing/rates.html

http://www.gaslightproperty.com/

 

About the Author:

Ben Rees headsot

Ben has lived in Bright, Indiana his entire life and plans on living there after he graduates.. He is in his second year the University of Cincinnati, and is studying Communications with a minor in International Business. His favorite things include reading, going on vacations with friends, and sitting around a campfire with friends.

Is It 2017 Yet?

Let me guess, you haven’t quite lost the 30 pounds you wanted to, or filled out your new 2016 agenda? Yeah, me neither.

By educationworkadmin
Published on

Let me guess, you haven’t quite lost the 30 pounds you wanted to, or filled out your new 2016 agenda? Yeah, me neither. According to a study done by the University of Scranton, 49% of people who make New Year’s resolutions have infrequent success. Yikes. Joseph Strand, M.D., instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, adds that the make-up of our brain doesn’t help either. Dr. Strand points out the oldest and less evolved part of our brain keeps rewarding us with dopamine for eating chocolate cake instead of for being productive (more on that here). Shoot, where’s dopamine when I finally clean out my car or transfer $50 to my savings account?

New Year’s resolutions require quite a bit of self-motivation to be successful. Here are four simple steps to revamping, maintaining, and benefitting from your resolutions this year.

Do you need resolutions?

Within the top 10 New Year’s resolutions in 2015, the majority were the usual lose weight, stay fit, save money, or get organized. Instead of just telling yourself that this year will be different, take time to evaluate your performance from past years and truthfully determine if those are the goals you can and genuinely want to accomplish. Ask yourself, are my usual resolutions going to improve aspects about myself that I want to improve or are they going to satisfy aspects other people feel need improvement? If you had a stellar previous year, who says you have to have resolutions? Maybe this year is about appreciating how far you have come and learning to celebrate yourself.

 

Be S.M.A.R.T.

Whether or not your resolutions require physical activity or are purely internal, they can’t get done if you don’t schedule them into your life. A quick and easy way to set realistic goals is to follow the SMART model. Are your goals specific in that you have a clear objective? Can you measure the success of the goal such as tracking how many pounds you’ve lost, or counting the extra hours you spent with your family? How attainable are your goals - because as much as I know you want to fall in love this year, some things are out of your control.  Make your goals realistic in that you don’t just have the motivation to accomplish the goal, but you also have the tools to accomplish said task. Lastly, please tie those goals to time. Set life checkpoints where you can evaluate and adjust course as you journey on through 2016.

 

Phone a friend.

As DJ EZ would say, “It takes two to make a thing go right.” A loved one can keep you on track, check your progress, and even accompany you as you go. Often, resolutions aren’t easy, and having someone on your side who can remind you of your original intent can come in handy.

 

Know when to give up.

Realistically, the journey is what changes you, not necessarily the destination. As you work at your resolutions throughout the year, don’t be afraid to admit defeat if it means prioritizing your goals. “New” years don’t just begin and end on January 1st. Anniversaries come and go with birthdays, romantic relationships, school years, births, deaths, etc. If you wake up every morning putting your best foot forward, you’re already succeeding.

As Megan Bowling, Associate Director of Marketing at Education at Work, likes to say, “The world is our classroom.” So my final piece of advice is to think of life as an extremely prolonged lesson. Good luck!

 

Resources:

http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/ http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/10-ways-to-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick

http://topachievement.com/smart.html

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