I'd say save your money. I met many off-campus people during oweek and in my classes, and some are now my best friends. If you get involved in clubs, talk to people and you don't go home immediately after your classes are done then you don't really need Rez. Yes, Rez was nice experience, but I would have rather, if I could, saved my $7K to help pay for this year's tuition, books, rent, etc..

You can always move out after first year and rent a place with your friends.

Ps. meal plans suck

Truth.

^

I live about 30 minutes away from York, and I still plan on living in residence.

If your an adult (over 18) and in university, why would you have to be in bed by 11?

I would say live in residence 1st year. Get the campus experience and meet friends. Then in 2nd year you can decide to live at home if residence wasn't what you wanted/too expensive. At least that way you'll only be paying for residence one year. And if you end up loving the people you meet, then you can always get an off campus house in upper years.

Since you live so close, you could probably go home frequently to eat (home food!!), do laundry, visit fam, etc. So living on campus won't be as stressful because it's easy to get home. Also since your HS friends, dr, dentist,fav places, etc is still in your city you don't have the same stress as out of city students.

That's your personal opinion Army...Don't be so negative. Personally I agree with you, I would have never like res.

Right, but you didn't back up your opinion with any reasoning, which makes it kind of unhelpful.

I agree with ARMY101. I lived in an apartment off-campus for my first year. I think it's the optimal choice for four reasons:

1. No distractions. Some of my friends on residence told me that even when they wanted to study, they would get pulled into socializing because of the atmosphere. Living off-campus (but close to the university) lets you socialize and study whenever you want to.

2. It's close to campus, so you're not at that great of a disadvantage from residence in this respect. Plus, walking is good for you.

3. Meal plans suck. It's cheaper to buy food from the grocery. And, this prepares you for later in life.

4. Personal bathroom and shower. I can't stand public bathrooms and showers.

I was going to say that living off-campus is expensive (especially in Toronto), but so is residence. So, if you can afford it, I'd go for an off-campus apartment.

I'd be lying if I said that residence didn't come without kinks. Having hundreds of students around you can be distracting, but it's a double-edged sword: you also have hundreds of students to help you out academically, socially, and emotionally. That latter-mentioned edge of the sword being much more true than the former. My roommate would sometimes (maybe three or four times throughout the year) bug me to go shoot a game of pool instead of study, a fire alarm was pulled at 3 in the morning once, I remember one night early in the year when some kids on my floor had their bass cranked and it kept me from getting to sleep... that's about it. The fun times I had in residence greatly outnumber the crappy times I had.

Also, you can't say that there are no distractions living on your own or with roommates. Most people don't have a TV in their rez room - that's one fewer major distraction. Also, knowing that the people around me were studying made me want to study. I never used the library once when I was in residence, but I use it all the time now that I have roommates and an apartment.

Furthermore, residence is almost certainly cheaper than a one-bedroom apartment. A low going rate for a one-bedroom apartment would be $800 a month x 12 = $9600. That's how much residence costs with meal plan included.

If it's a question of rez vs home, then you definitely have to consider your financial situation and the commute. Residence is fun and can save lots of time spent on a bus, train, or stuck in rush hour traffic in a car; living at home can save you quite a bit of $$$. If it's a question of rez vs one-bedroom apartment, then I'd say definitely go for residence.