For busy college students with full class loads, lectures in huge halls and hours of silent study, their only guaranteed daily close human contact is with their roommates. But for students who live alone, coming home after a hectic day can have a very different feel.

According to the U.S. Census, it's estimated that one in four households has a single occupant. Though this trend hasn’t necessarily translated into the hustle and bustle of University off-campus living, there are several students who’ve turned to domestic solitude as a way of life.

LSA senior Francis Prael decided to live alone because he said he needed a space to get work done. After spending a semester abroad, Prael wanted a place in Ann Arbor with no disruptions so he could study in his room.

Prael said one positive aspect to single living is the autonomy it affords. He said he didn’t always like the music that played when he went out. But now, before a party, he can grab a beer in his studio apartment, pull down the shades, blast his favorite music and dance by himself.

Those who live on their own enjoy a number of other privileges: no roommate in the shower when you desperately have to pee, no unwashed dishes in the sink and no sexiling tube sock on the doorknob.

LSA senior Eamonn Wright, who is living alone this year for the second time, has an even more unique situation: his living accommodations look like a real home. Curtains wave from the windows and throw rugs hug the floor in his comfortable one-bedroom apartment.

“I love having something to call my own,” Wright said.

Of course, many students who live alone admit to developing certain idiosyncrasies when there is no one else around to judge them.

People living solo are less conscious of their abnormal behaviors. They leave doors open when they pee. They become neat freaks or messy slobs. In a “Seinfeld” episode, the eternal single-living Kramer opts to wash his vegetables in the shower.

“You talk to yourself way more than you did before,” Wright said. “And wear a lot less clothing.” Wright went on to describe a time when he was naked in his room and an older couple could see into his house.

Business sophomore Nicola Montagna, who lived alone this summer while working an internship in Chicago, admitted to never wearing a bra in her single apartment.

Of course, living alone costs more. According to an analysis performed by The Michigan Daily, the cost of a single apartment averaged $908 per month across the Ann Arbor area, compared to $715 per month for a single bedroom in a multi-bedroom house.

Alone, together

Another cost of living alone is the isolation it can create.

“Things seem a lot scarier,” Prael said of living alone. “There’s this vent outside my window, and at night it looks like someone is sitting on my window sill. That freaked me out a couple times.”

LSA senior Danielle Bridges used Skype and phone calls to stave off the loneliness of living by herself. She would blast music or leave a TV show on her computer to make sure there was always noise in her apartment.

For Montagna, nights and weekends were the times loneliness would hit the worst.

“I didn’t have a lot of things to fill up my time with, so I would just go to bed,” she said.

The necessity for human contact is as innate as hunger or thirst. According to University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo, loneliness is an evolutionary signal that indicates social connections need to form in order to survive.

And while living with people might increase the probability of negative interactions and arguments, the hustle and bustle of people can also serve as a social support system.

Montagna admitted that after her experience with living alone, she was eager to jump back into the roommate groove.

“I love being close to my roommates,” she said.

Sociologist Eric Klinenberg, who wrote the book “Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone,” disagrees with the notion that single living can produce loneliness. In a February 5 New York Times article, Klinenberg argues that “living alone can make it easier to be social, because single people have more free time, absent family obligations, to engage in social activities.”

So maybe solo living doesn’t exactly signal that you’re lonely; it just means you’re a little different.

"Even though I live off-campus, I can easily come study here, walk and simply be in a social environment that keeps me connected to people without having to necessarily interact with them," Wright said.