Too old to stay in dorms

Flare, ASN, BSN · Feb 5, 2009

i think that's a personal preference thing. If you are looking to go to college and are willing to stay in the dorm, then go for it. An older, make that more mature :) person may even be offered free room and board (or discounted, anyhow) if they are willing to be a resident advisor. On the flip side. The older college student is going to have to contend with all of the things that go along with dorm life. Curfews on visitors, roommates, noisy neighbors, typical dorm style shenanigans by a few pranksters. If you don't think that type of environment will be conducive to the amount of quite time you'll need to study, then you may want to look for near-by off campus housing.

By the way - just an FYI - when i was in college my dorm room neighbor had to be about 45.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2009

It has to be done, never too old

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2009

I'd love student housing. With a meal ticket. Raptuous joy!

jjjoy, LPN · Feb 5, 2009

My dormmates/co-op-mates were mostly 18-21, but there were a few older, up to over 40, who for various reasons chose to live in the high-rise student housing (convenience, to have a dorm-life experience, etc). I had both good and bad experiences (loud, immature neighbors who never seemed to study, the convenience of all meals provided, the ready-made community). I also had good and bad experiences sharing off-campus apartments... battles over splitting the utility bills, disagreements over friend visitation rules, building deep friendships with roommates.

Some schools have other options for older students so be sure to ask about it. At my school, undergrad nursing students could apply to live in the graduate dorms since they were much closer to the medical campus and nursing was considered a "professional" degree. We also had off-campus co-op housing that was a good deal, and so it was popular among older students who were paying their own.

Heloisea3 · Feb 5, 2009

I lived in the dorms when I went to college for my bachelor's degree, and there were several older students (a few over 40) that lived in the dorms. Some were undergraduates, and others were grad students. They were great and were very well liked in the dorms. Most of them had private rooms. Many universities have apartments on campus, so that might be something to check out as well. I loved every single minute of living in the dorms because it was so convenient to everything on campus. I also didn't have to worry about utilities, meals, etc.. If you decided to stay on campus, just be sure to look into all of your housing options. Some dorms are more quiet than others.

maebe · Feb 5, 2009

When I lived in dorms, our building had an entire floor dedicated to older students...we called that the geriatric floor Check with your school and see if you they have such a system or whether you can request to stay away from the party dorms or floors...the older students were given more freedom than the young pups on the other floors...