In today's unstable economy, students must consider many factors when pursuing education. Paying in-state tuition and avoiding room and board expenses while living at home become huge advantages. Another savings rests in avoidance of travel expenses in air fare or bus, train and gas expenditures when college students live long distances away from home. Also, students may maintain part-time and even full-time employment while enrolled in college, thereby earning money and not merely spending.
The average dorm room or student apartment compares poorly to the comforts of home. Students can sleep, eat and do laundry in peace, free from exposure from the germ-factories that many dorms become. In addition, commuting college students get good exercise walking the distances from parking lots to class buildings.
Having the emotional support of family and old friends at home during the stresses of college years can remove the loneliness that strikes many students at huge universities with thousands of students. Commuting students don't have to deal with incompatible roommates or the often riotous living among strangers in dormitories.
Homes seem better equipped for study than the average dormitory, and fewer distractions enable concentration. Without a party next-door or above your head every night, students living off-campus can focus on school work. In the future as online courses grow, more college students will receive education without leaving home at all.