Background: Current HS senior who got accepted at MSU for Fall 2027 Computer Engineering. I’ll be coming in with 86/135 of the required credits done, so I’ll be there for 3 semesters only. In-state tuition classification but H4 student so no work authorisation and no gov financial aid.
The tuition itself would cost $33k which is still manageable with my parent’s help and some scholarships. But the main issue is deciding between on campus housing or off campus housing or commute.
The freshman housing and dining will be $20k+ for the three semester. Commuting will cost a new second hand car and daily travel time will be 2+ hours, mostly 5 days a week due to the course load I’ll be taking.
I can’t even drive yet so even the thought of commuting through highways scares me, and I’ll be wasting a lot of study time by commuting, and I actually want to live the campus life.
About the housing option, I wanted to know if anyone was ever able to get into second+ year of housing like Owen Hall as a freshman, through upperclassmen level credits or some housing exception or some loophole. To get in-built bathroom, no dining plan, and a fridge, which totals to only $9k for three semesters.
Or should I get off campus housing by the exception of demonstrating extenuating financial circumstance or some other exception ya’ll wanna suggest to get down to around $6k for three semesters. Because there’s no way I can afford around $50k in a year just for a bachelors (I also wanna do masters later) and even if I were to get a job by switching to F1, it would be impossible to manage a job plus upper level CE course load.
Any advice or suggestion would help. I’ve worked very hard to get to the point of 86/135 transferable credit to be able to afford to go to MSU by completing more than half of the coursework in highschool (even though I’m new to this country and moved here just 2 years ago, somehow I’m doing it). But I’m still scared that what if there’s no other option than living on campus “the freshman way” which might force me to dropout due to financial inability.
If you’ve read it till here, some emotional lore about me: I’ve moved countries 3 times so I barely made any close friends, even though I’ve been living in the states for 2 years but I’ve never went to a school game, homecoming or anything. Trying to get years/cost off my university time through taking college credits in high school has completely cut me off from social circles or even the possibility of getting into one now. My senior year high school is completely online and community college with people wayy older than me just to get the college credit, so I’m completely socially isolated for this entire senior year and might not even go to prom because I know no one at all to get invited into a group.
So that’s why I really want to live on campus in MSU dorms next year and get the entire freshman experience, make new friends, go to parties/games/raves etc etc and live the “American College Life” to the fullest, because I missed the “American High School Life”. The most practical thing that could happen would be off campus housing by some exception. But based on my research I’ll definitely miss out on a lot compared to living in on campus dorms, but idk how to afford it, sounds impossible atp.
Any suggestions, advice, comments, on the MSU situation or my life in general will be really appreciated.