Being far away from home to go to college can be challenging for some new college students to get used to, and some of those students can never fully adjust. It is essential to consider the distance from home when deciding on a new college to pursue. Unfortunately, many students underestimate how significant having your home close to college is.

If you decide to choose a college far from home, as many people do, always have a local fallback if you can't get used to being far away. The local college you chose should have all of the same aspects that you enjoyed in your choice far from home.

Campus

When you are looking at all of the local schools around your hometown as a fallback option, or just in case you feel uncomfortable moving far away, you have to be able to picture yourself spending four years on that campus. The school's campus should be appealing to you and easy to navigate. 

You should be able to picture yourself walking to class through your school's campus for all four or more, depending on your major and plans for grad school. 

Off-Campus activities

You want to make sure that your school offers the type of off-campus activities you are interested in. For example, if you are an outdoorsy person, make sure they have spots off campus for you to hike, fish, camp, and do cool outdoor activities. 

On the other hand, if you like to explore cities and towns, make sure they have spots off campus to go to cool shops in a downtown area. 

Education 

Education is the most crucial part of going to college; you have to make sure that you will get a good one at the school of your choosing. That does not mean, find the most prestigious and academically challenging school you can get into because that would be a miserable four-year experience. 

Make sure you can get the four-year degree you want at your school, and don't be afraid to challenge yourself, but don't suffocate yourself with work. As much as college is about education, it is also an experience. 

Moving far away from home for school can be difficult, you will miss your family and friends that you loved back home, so by staying home you can almost get the best of both worlds. You can continue to remain on campus and have fun with your friends from college, but still know if you ever get homesick that you can head right back home. So look for colleges near me in a search engine of some sort to narrow some local schools down. 

That being said, you shouldn't have to sacrifice the key features you would like in a school to have it be closer to your home. If anything, increase the distance from your home to have the essential elements you want but make sure that the trip can be completed in a couple of hours in the day to fall back.