It’s a well-known fact that Sonoma State University features some of the nicest dorms in the CSU system. If everybody knows this, why would any of us ever think of living off campus? 

SSU freshman have an option to choose between four different villages when living on campus. Although some seem nicer than others, these villages still have nicer living accommodations than some upperclassmen housing options at other universities. I lived in Verdot my freshmen year and I was spoiled enough to complain about it all the time. 

The average sized living room was too dark, our shower room was dirty, and my spacious double suite had an ugly fluorescent light. I really thought I had it rough. That was until I heard about the dorms other CSU’s had to offer. 

San Francisco State’s floor plan for first-time freshman includes a long hallway full of double suites whose residents all share a single bathroom. 

Dorms at UC Santa Cruz house two to four students in one room, with no bathroom or other space to live in. When you take into consideration that they have just a room to hang out in, it’s hard to even criticize the “unpleasant” village of Verdot. 

With this being said, it is still easy to find things wrong with the living options for freshman. I was only able to stick it through because I had dreams of living in the tranquil and grandeur upperclassmen housing of SSU. 

I remember when I took my first visit to the campus and passed by the Beaujolais apartments. My parents and I agreed this must be some sort of off-campus housing that wealthy Rohnert Park residents stayed in. That was until we saw the Tuscany town homes and we were sure that these were, in fact, the buildings that housed Rohnert Park’s high-class citizens. 

After finding out that these buildings were open to students, I knew that’s exactly where I wanted to live the next year. I didn’t even take into consideration the possibility of living off-campus. 

My only reasoning was that it was going to be astronomically nicer than my current living situation. I didn’t think about the people I was going to live with, the cooking amenities, or the price. Granted, it did help that my parents agreed to pay as long as I was maintaining focus on my schoolwork. 

Some students, however, cannot wait to live off campus. I can understand that the sense of independence and freedom one feels when they’re living in a real apartment or house must be nice. Not to mention there’s no CSAs to deal with, which means no mandatory quiet hours to abide by. 

Instead, there are neighbors that can call the cops on a Sunday afternoon because they think the crazy college students next door are having a wild party of five people. Paying the rent is even more of a bummer when the rules of the place one lives in are run by the tolerance of the neighbors. 

That’s why if it continues to be an option left up to me, I’m going to choose to live on campus until I graduate. That is, unless, I find a furnished apartment with great amenities, a community pool and amazing proximity to campus.