Plus, Cantabrigians don't have to pore over airline prices to see if they can make it home for Thanksgiving.

"It's certainly easy in terms of going home for vacation," jokes Cambridge resident Noam I. Weinstein '99.

But living so close to home isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

Gregory says she's still expected to help with household chores--"if there's a big snowstorm I might go back and help shovel."

Many students say they need to put some space between themselves and their parents. Without the physical distance which accompanies going to school in a different city, many students say they struggle to establish their independence.

"We talked about how if I went to Harvard we would have to put distance between us," Berndt remembers.

But overall, students say their college experience has been positive, even if they do run into their parents jogging by the Charles. And having mom and dad around can be pretty humorous.

When Drew hurt her eye last weekend, her roommate spread word of the accidental "gouging" to Drew's mother.

While she was being treated at UHS, Drew beheld none other than her own mother pushing down the door with Drew's entire family in tow.

"It was cute but I was a little annoyed," Drew says.

The Cantabrigian student admits she spoke coldly to her mother at first, but retracted her angry words shortly thereafter.

"I called them back later and said I was sorry," she says. "I thought it was really sweet."