Our son lived in apartments all three years as the coaches preferred the players NOT stay in the dorms for various reasons, not the least of which was difficulty with the way food service was handled and the players not being able to get late meals after practices. Our son learned how to do some basic cooking and got pretty good at it ... now when he and his wife are in their own apartment (they are with a host family right now) he does the cooking and laundry (he thinks he does a better laundry than his wife) and she does the cleaning and bill paying (she keeps a better checkbook than he does). If he hadn't had that apartment experience in college, I am not sure he would have made such a desireable husband 