r/Vanderbilt • u/Need-Help123456 • 2d ago
How Strict is the Staying in Dorm Policy?
I'm thinking about going to Vanderbilt, the only problem is that undergraduates are required to live in a dorm all four years, and I wanted to live at home. There's problems but I enjoy spending time with my parents and I love being with my dogs.
After the first year students can try and request to live off campus, but would they be okay with me moving back to my parents house? I live roughly ~40 minutes away.
I've seen some things about a housing shortage? So maybe I could convince them that it'd be good for them for me not to live off campus? That way other people who absolutely need a dorm can get one.
If I do have to live in a dorm, can I just actually live at home anyways? Would I get in trouble if I don't actually stay in the dorm? I'm sure they'd notice that I'm commuting to and from school everyday so would I get expelled or something? Like is that something they'd actually care about? Has anybody tried doing this?
Please no "I recommend staying in the dorm for the full college experience" as an answer.
Thank you anybody who answers!
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u/dellscreenshot 2d ago
You'll have to pay for housing and and assigned a dorm but they won't check your dorm to see if you're there or not.
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u/srs_house A&S 2011 2d ago
I knew a football player who was on scholarship and his parents just paid for him to have an off-campus apartment out of pocket.
His roommate liked it, turned it into a single and pushed the beds together.
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u/sun-flower24 2d ago
As someone who attended Vandy ~10 years ago, I highly recommend living on campus. My hometown is also about 40 minutes from Nashville, but I lived on campus all 4 years. There is so much more to the Vanderbilt experience than class and study time. I would only go home a couple weekends a semester because there was so much to do.
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u/LyudmilaPavlichenko_ 2d ago
Echoing this. I also grew up about 40 minutes away and lived in the dorms all 4 years. Vanderbilt is not intended to be a commuter school, and OP would be missing so much. The loss of time commuting would be huge, plus missing out on making connections with classmates and activities on campus. Go home on the weekends, fine, but I really think OP would find that as they settle in they would feel the need to do that less and less.
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u/Mountain_Tip_7081 2d ago
Vanderbilt is not a commuter school. You’d be doing yourself a disservice living so far off campus. Being a 15-minute walk away is very different than a 40-minute drive
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u/idkwhatsgoingon95 2d ago
save your money and go go MTSU or something if you plan on commuting. vandy is huge on community. i do not know a single person who did this in my entire 4 years there. sure some people lived “off campus” but that means 2 blocks away, not 40 mins away lmao. they hardly even allow cars on campus bc there’s very limited parking. sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear but it may not be the best choice for you if you want to live at home
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u/YalieRower 2d ago
Much of the university experience happens outside of the classroom—they are an immersive living and learning environment.
That said, not all universities are designed under that model—Vanderbilt is and if that’s not something important to you, which is absolutely okay, Vanderbilt may not be the best fit for you.
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u/HousePlantPappi 2d ago
Wouldn’t recommend it. Along with missing out on the experience . It would be a logistical nightmare. Many of my groups for group projects would meet at 9pm and work till midnight. Imagine having to drive 40min after all that time working. Being on the road that late sounds awful
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u/AbleDisD 2d ago
MTSU is a commuter school. Perhaps go there if you do not want to engage in extracurriculars?
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u/Best-Leadership-8058 2d ago
My sophomore is currently living off campus. They just applied and were approved but it may not be that easy for sophomores every year. There has been a housing shortage for the last couple of years because they knocked down all the old sophomore housing. New sophomore housing is well under construction and may be ready for next year, or the year after. Keep in mind that is very hard to get an on campus parking pass as a sophomore and even less likely as a freshman, so you may need to consider how you are actually getting to campus each day.
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u/Tricky-Trap 2d ago
I used to go home every weekend my freshman and sophomore years and let's just say that I missed out on a lot of experiences. I can't imagine what commuting everyday would be like. Branch out a bit!
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u/Substantial_Kiwi7445 2d ago edited 2d ago
You have to ask for permission to live off-campus. It is more likely to be approved if you are a junior or a senior. That said, I know a lot of sophomores that live off-campus, so they may not be super strict.
You mention a housing shortage. Tbh, I haven't heard of that, so it is unlikely to realistically help you unless something dramatic happens.
And no, they would not expel you, and you would not get in any sort of trouble for paying for a dorm but staying at home. They don't check if you are actually living on campus. You don't have to ever sign in, and they never check rooms. That's the catch, though. You still have to pay for something you wouldn't use.
If that is not a problem, you can absolutely spend most of your time back home, even freshman year, unless your roommate snitches on you. But believe me, he/she will probably love you not being there much, lmao.
So to answer your question, not very strict at all IF you pay for housing.
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u/Free-Purpose-8898 2d ago
What could the roommate possibly snitch about
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u/Substantial_Kiwi7445 2d ago
Not sleeping there?
Not that deep bro.1
u/Free-Purpose-8898 2d ago
If the roommate told the college, what could the college even do
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u/Substantial_Kiwi7445 2d ago
Mf can you read?
It’s not that deep. I just wanted to make the joke about how his roommate is going to be so happy he is not there.
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u/YalieRower 2d ago
Much of the university experience happens outside of the classroom—they are often an immersive living and learning environment.
That said, not all universities are designed under that model—Vanderbilt is and if that’s not something important to you, which is absolutely okay, Vanderbilt may not be the best fit for you.
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u/JENAlSSANTE 2d ago
Depends on when you get here. By Fall of 2028 they’ll most likely already of finished the new housing that replaced Brandscomb (which I think will be junior housing) and are almost finished with the new freshman dorm. By then it’ll most likely be 100% mandatory to live on campus. The shortage was bc they destructed a few houses, but by then it’ll probably be built.
As a local, you definitely can stay home but I wouldn’t recommend it. You also can definitely stay at home, but you’d probably still have to pay the fee of housing. I have a friend who’s also a local who does come every morning but it’s not very ideal.
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u/diesuchegehtweiter 2d ago
They’re planning to take down Highland when the new buildings are done. One of them won’t be until 2029 btw. It’s likely many upperclassmen will be able to live off campus indefinitely.
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u/otbvandy 2d ago
I, too, grew up about 40 minutes from Vandy. There’s no point in going if you want to live at home. The rules then were that you could live at home in Davidson County, but I don’t know anyone who did.
Save the money and go to MTSU or APSU if you’re not going to live on campus.
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u/Objective-Ad4086 1d ago
I would see if you get accepted at Vandy and then take it from there. Considering the statistics, there is a high chance you will not have to make this decision.
If you get in, no one is checking where you’re sleeping at night, so you can do what you want, but what you want to do is not necessarily what is best for you. College life is a once in a lifetime opportunity that you must push yourself to experience before deciding that it’s not for you - hence the Vanderbilt motto, “Dare to Grow.”
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u/iDidntCommitArson 1d ago
If you are willing to drive 40 minutes then save your money and go to a commuter school dude
Vanderbilt socially revolves around campus and being on campus. You will be missing out on a lot and you will be isolated. Not only will you be miserable driving 40 minutes back and forth and wasting money on gas, but you’ll also be paying money for a dorm. Additionally, parking is ridiculously expensive and hard to get, and freshmen are not allowed a car on campus so you will have to buy parking nearby every single day or find a garage willing to rent you a space close by. Campus events, club meetings, TA office hours are often held late - at like 7 or 8 sometimes. Now imagine you get out of a meeting or activity at 10 and now you have to drive back home for 40 minutes, while also knowing you have an 8 am the next day. By the way you will need to get here at 7:30 because grad student (which you won’t be able to have anyways) and street parking is gone by 7:50. And yeah, some classes have exams that start at 7pm so that’s also a possibility.
College is for branching out and learning to be on your own. I’m glad that you have such a great relationship with your parents but the choice you have here is either learn to live on campus or pick a different school.
A dorm is incredibly convenient and since you are required to have one, just stay on campus and hang out with your parents on weekends.
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u/tstern724 2d ago
No one notices anything. You’re gonna have to pay for the dorm, but I doubt anyone would notice if you didn’t even sleep there once.
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u/PenaltyStreet1286 2d ago
My recommendation is that you do that commute daily for a while and then step back and assess your thought process altogether. I could not imagine wanting to do that plus pay for parking each day… it would be a serious grind and I bet you’d transfer out to another school if you truly refused to live in a dorm. Nashville traffic is terrible.
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u/phantosys 2d ago
A non-answer but I think you’d miss out on certain college experiences if you chose to commute 40 minutes everyday to campus and back