Downfalls of going to college out of state

Deciding where to go to college is hard. There are so many different things that you have to consider–cost, scholarships, location, and more. Personally, the decision of going out of state or staying in state was the hardest decision for me to make. I ended up deciding to go to college out of state, and now that I have the knowledge under my belt, I made a roundup of some downfalls to going to school out of state.

As many of you probably know, I moved from Oklahoma to Missouri to go to school. Now, don’t get me wrong, going to school out of state is not ALL bad. I actually love it. I just decided to do this post because these are definitely some things to consider if you are planning on going to school out of state. I wish that I had known these things before I left for college, so, I decided to share them. Here are some of the biggest downfalls of going to school out of state.

It’s usually more expensive

All colleges have out of state tuition and in state tuition, and out of state tuition is always more expensive. If you’re considering going to school out of state, make sure that your wallet can handle it.

One thing that you can check is if the school that your looking at offers in state tuition for you. Personally, I got really lucky and even though my school is in Missouri, they offered in state tuition for people from Oklahoma. Not all schools do this, and if they do then it will probably be for a border state. It is worth looking into, though.

You can’t go home whenever you want

A lot of people from my hometown go home every single weekend. Sadly, me and all of the other students who go to school out of state don’t have that luxury. This comes with a lot of downfalls. So, any time that you forget something at home when you go back to school, you just have to suffer without it for a month or so before you can go back to get it again. You also can’t just pack up and go home if you’re homesick. Also, expect to miss a lot of birthdays and parties. 🙁

If you can’t handle being away from family and friends for long periods of time, then I definitely would not recommend going to college out of state.

You have to put up with long car rides/ plane rides

Every time I go home I have to spend 4 hours in a car. It may not seem like that much, but think about it. I leave to go home on a Friday at around 2, and then I drive for 4 hours. Then when I go home I usually hang out for a few hours before I go to sleep. Then I spend all day at home on Saturday, but I have to leave early on Sunday. Then I will have spend 8 hours in a car over the course of 3 days, and I only got to spend one whole day at home!

It is really inconvenient to go home when you live out of state. If you never wanna go back home anyway, then I guess you’re fine. If you do, though, this is definitely something to consider.

Going home is expensive

I personally only live 4 hours away from my hometown, but gas is still really expensive. Anytime that I need to make a trip back home I can expect to drop between $40 and $80 on gas. It’s even more expensive if you are going somewhere far enough away to where you’ll have to fly home.

You have to be more independent

All the time on social media I’ll see my friends who go to school in state having their parents visit them on the weekends. They’ll go out to eat, go grocery shopping together, etc. If you go to school out of state, though, you can’t just call your parents if you need something. You have to figure out how to deal with things on your own, like doctors appointments, car services, and a lot of other adult things that suck.

You won’t get to see family very often

Like I said in the paragraph before this, you can’t just call your family and meet up. I miss my family a lot of the time, but I just have to suck it up and wait for another month or so before I can see them again. However, it makes it even more special when you do come home to visit.

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