Moving into the fall of 2009 I will be at junior status. I’ll be 21 in August and I’m finally feeling the pressures to grow up. I decided that since I spent my first year commuting to a school close to home, and my second year on campus here at IPFW, I decided that I would try and spend my third year off campus. I’ve weighed my pros and cons and figured to try it on my own. I’ve heard from several sources that you don’t know what it’s like to be responsible until you are on your own, paying your own bills, without anyone watching over your shoulder. I looked at all the perks of living on campus: I didn’t have to bring furniture to my apartment, I had my own room with a lock and key, I didn’t need any appliances, I paid one lump sum and all my bills including internet, cable, electric, and trash were all included, I was within walking distance from campus, I wasn’t responsible for my roommates to make their payments on time, and I was able to meet a bunch of new friends. That really sounds like a good deal until you look at my personal cons. I will be 21 and most of campus is filled with freshman and sophomores, I didn’t have to pay all my bills, I just paid one lump sum to student housing and they were pretty lenient on giving me a few extra days, I never had to lock my door on the way out of my apartment, which was nice but put me in a bad habit when I moved back home, I always had an RA that took care of any problems that I had including a roommate, and I had to live with people I didn’t know going into the year. I have always been fairly independent working since I was a sophomore in high school, and at times including here in Fort Wayne I work three jobs to pay the bills. I feel that moving off campus will only help me to learn responsibility in a lot of areas in life. I would have never traded my first year at IPFW in Student Housing for anything because that’s where I met my new roommate that will be moving with me.