<prompt> Human: Ive been trying to consider every possibility including living out of a van to determine what my best financial decision could be regarding my future living situation. Im currently in the military and saving up a small amount of money. I project that in about 6 months when Im ready to buy I should have about 18k in savings and zero debt. Once Im out of the military I have two years in school before finishing my BSEE. My income while attending school full time tuition free will be roughly 1500mo tax free, plus unemployment until I can find a job bartending or something. I would plan on living there for about 3 years.My thinking is that I can find a 3 bedroom home for around 140k really close to the university, and rent the other rooms out for 400mo during the school year. When including appropriate property taxes and home insurance costs the mortgage payment comes to roughly 750mo according to Zillow, meaning I can rent both extra rooms and have the mortgage completely covered. Of course I might need to tighten my belt occasionally during the summer months or while Im waiting to find roommates. Im also naive enough to have no idea how much I should expect to spend on home repairs.Two bedroom apartments in the area are going for at least 850mo, and three bedrooms are a little hard to come by. I used the Rent vs Buy calculator in the sidebar and it tells me that I could go either way, but Im not even sure that Im using it correctly. I would be securing a loan through the VA and putting 0 down which I know is really taboo around here, but it seems like the math is working out in my favor. Living for free half the time is a lot better than living for 425mo in an apartment... Im sure theres a lot that Im not thinking of. Im hoping that you personal finance gurus can give me some solid advice.  <response>: Please very seriously consider your motivations for buying a house, and the consequences of having roommates in a college town. Renting is often disparaged as throwing money away but considering the quality of most homes on the market today you are way better off not being married to a single property unless you find one you give a shit about.Also, youre going to school, youre probably going to be making a lot more in the future and youre not going to want to keep paying off a house you have no intention of living in and have to repair and rent out yourself or pay someone else to do so for you. Living for free isnt living for free when youre obligating yourself in theory, permanently to this area, to this property, and this debt. Itd be a different deal if you had a stable incomecareer already but student years are notoriously difficult. 