According to the website “My College Guide,” a college student will pay a yearly average of  $8,887 for room and board at a public university and $10,089 at a private university. Over four years that comes to a total of just under $38,000. That is around the yearly salary of an entry level teacher.

So why am I not dorming at my university next year?

Because I’m broke. Flat out broke. Like, open my wallet, flip it over and nothing falls out broke.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, but you will make money one day, you can take loans out and pay them off after college.” How about no. It’s absolutely positively 100 percent not worth it. Bear with me, and I’ll persuade you as to why.

As you’ve probably recognized, I think the cost of living at a university is entirely ludicrous and something I refuse to put my hard-earned money into. The same money I was just telling you I have none of. Moving on.

However, financial security is not my only argument as to why dorming does not deserve the hype it receives.

Next year I’m attending North Central College, which is a literal 15-minute drive from DGS if you take Maple Ave all the way down. So in my case, and I’m fully aware not everyone has this same situation, it seems futile for me to live on campus when I would save more money using gas to drive to class every day.

Another thing for me is — I’m sure some of you can relate to this– I don’t do particularly well with unfamiliarity and change.

I have spent the last four years in the same school, walking down the same hallways and socializing with the same students and staff members. At North Central, I know no one, and I mean no one, not one person.

After spending my day in unaccustomed lecture halls surrounded by strangers, I want to be able to go home, recoup and take in the wonders of security and comfort. I can’t do that in a cramped dorm room with someone who I may barely know or connect with.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’m an introvert, and I need some time to recharge my social energy. Sue me for trying to save myself from a mental breakdown.

Also, because I am an introvert, I crave privacy and my own time. Everyone knows that privacy and dorm rooms don’t go hand-in-hand. I want to be able to live on my own schedule and not worry about disturbing someone if for whatever reason I decide to stay out late.

By now you’re probably picking up that I’m a little bit of a basket case. It gets worse.

When I was in sixth grade, I was diagnosed with sleep insomnia and severe panic disorder. These illnesses are apart of who I am, and I have grown to accept and respect myself for them, but they do take a toll on my day-to-day life, more than I’d like them to.

I have the worst sleep habits of anyone you’ll ever meet. I have medication and learned techniques that help me go to sleep at night, but let me tell you, it’s quite the process.

In order to relax my mind to the point of slumber, my room cannot be over 63 degrees, I need white noise, a TV or music, and I pretty much need my entire room to reek of lavender. I don’t think another girl who just met me last week is going to be exactly appreciative of this when she has to wake up for her 8 a.m. the next day.

My biggest issue with the concept of dorming is the social construct of a college experience. For all of you students who are feeling an insane amount of pressure to conform to this stereotypical idea of a college student, I hear you and I’m here for you.

It took me a really long time to come to terms with the fact that I’m just not ready to live away from home, and it was all because the amount of pressure I was feeling to live on campus. I pretty much thought that living at home would result in me having no friends.

I truly believe that college is what you make of it, and any person can have a lively four years at their school regardless of where they decide to live. High school seniors already have enough on their plate, and the last thing they need is to feel like they are going to be outcasted for their decision of where to call home.

Then there’s the whole thing about becoming an adult and maturing from living in the dorms. Well, I’ve got some news for you, I am in no way going to physically regress into a baby just because of my choice to spend my first year in college living with my mom.

Sounds ridiculous when I put it like that, doesn’t it?

Here’s the moral of my story: Students grow at their own pace, and students should be able to make decisions on what’s best for them and their life without hearing outside judgment and irrelevant opinions.

*drops microphone*