By Lydia Palmer
Quiet streets in the summer and crowded restaurants in the school year - Starkville, Mississippi’s College Town, has a unique dynamic.
Mississippi State University boasts students from all over, enjoying Starkville for the semesters. There are some who have experienced Starkville before, during and after college: year round.
Carrington Ashford, a recent graduate of MSU, shared her experience growing up in Starkville and remaining here for college and into post-graduate life.
“My mother worked on campus, so it was nice to be able to go take a nap in her office, but it was still weird to know she was within a mile of me every day,” Ashford said, chuckling. “Oh, and don’t forget that my dad works for the Starkville Police Department, so there’s that too.”
Aside from the proximity to her parents and their respective roles within the city and campus, Ashford said that she wouldn’t go back and change a thing. MSU was not her first choice for college, but it was the choice that made the most sense.
The recent graduate originally wanted to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, but was unable to pay the out-of-state tuition fees at that university (around $43,000 annually for out-of-state tuition). She admitted being let down by that and nervous to be so close to her parents in a transitional phase of life that made her feel like she should be getting away from home.
“I loved having her close by,” Rosalind Ashford, Carrington’s mother, said. “It was a priority of mine to give her space and not be breathing down her neck all the time. Her older sister also went to Mississippi State, so I had experienced it before.”
Rosalind Ashford considers herself lucky to have been able to be close by for both of her daughters’ college experiences. Although Carrington Ashford went home for the weekends sparingly, even less than some of her out of state friends, she did enjoy being able to have warm, home-cooked meals and a free washing machine and dryer nearby.
After graduation, Carrington moved back in with her mother. This post-graduation phase of life seemed even more daunting. However, she said it is more like renting out a room with a super sweet landlord, as she referred to her mother.
Tanner Smith, a freshman business administration major at the university, is just beginning the journey that Carrington is finishing up. Although Smith lives in an off-campus apartment not far from the home and school she grew up in, her parents are still getting used to the transition of not being very involved in her life.
“They really are trying,” Smith said. “It has already gotten better than it was when I first moved out. Now, they mostly just text me if they are having a big meal and leave the door open for me and my friends to join them.”
Mostly, Smith communicates and catches up with her parents over the phone throughout the week – much like other students from farther away. Overall, Smith thinks that the experience will be nice. Her relationship with her parents has been rocky lately, she said, and she thinks that the small amount of space will be beneficial to those relationships.
Although it may sound appealing to many to venture far away after high school, these students embrace the college experience with their parents still nearby.