Dealbreaker: students required to live on campus for 3 or even 4 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a ninny OP. Hopefully, your kid is smarter than you. You must be financially illiterate. Do you really want your kid to take on a lease + expenses that a roommate bails on? I am a professor + countless students have come to my office crying that their roommates left them holding the bag on a lease.

+1
This is exactly what happened to one of my kids. Four guys in a house, one of them decides not to come back to school. He refused to pay his share of the lease (that he had signed). We could have taken him/his parents to court, but no one wanted to go through all of that so we split that kid's rent between the remaining three and paid it that way. I was so furious, but there was really nothing we could do. I wish our son had decided to remain on campus.

[Anonymous]

Our school didn't require students to live on campus, but everyone wanted to. They only had enough housing for 3yrs guaranteed and a few students got 4yrs. Students chose to live off campus Junior year and return to be on campus senior year. Housing was assigned by lottery and seniority, so you had a better chance of a great campus apartment if you were a senior. Over time, the school has tried to find a way to have more and more on-campus housing because the nearby community would prefer students didn't live there and have parties....which they definitely do as Juniors off campus (but they also do as Seniors...and sophomores...and freshman on campus!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school is taking responsibility for Student Life, an aspect of college for which that many universities feel no responsibility. It's education the whole student, not just academics. The school probably has a much richer Student Life/Activities focus than other colleges. And much richer financial resources.

This is a very American point of view. Which makes sense! Because this is a US-based message board. But in many (most?) places in the world, this is not how college is. At all. When I moved here, it definitely took some getting used to and felt a lot like prolonged adolescence. Where I'm from (Germany), you mostly just go to school for classes like people go to their job in real life. Very few students live on campus, they live in the city in their own rented apartments (or some with family). "Student life" does not really exist- for personal life, we do things in the city rather than the structured events that are organized and ran by the college. You are expected to learn and live independently and the university is not going to organize a social life for you. In fact, many of your friends might not even go to your university. As a result of all this, you don't have the rigid separation between the university students and the greater community like you do in a lot of places in the US. Students just integrate into the city and are treated more like "regular residents. I personally think this is a good thing; others (see: many comments on this thread) prefer a more insulated experience, more like a boarding school, and that's fine. Different strokes.

I studied in Munich where there are dorms all over the city—Studentenstadt, Olympiadorf to name the two huge complexes. They are not “on campus” or affiliated with a single university, but you have to be a student to live there. I lived closer to the Uni in a smaller complex where students from the LMU and the Techniscbe U lived together. I had a tiny single and shared a kitchen and bathroom with everyone on my floor, about 20 students. We had huge parties in the basement. It was definitely communal living, not quite a WG. My friends at Olidorf and Stustadt had similar experiences except they had bigger rooms and their own bathrooms. Some did live in quads or triples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is mostly small private schools that have this requirement, especially LACs and especially if they are in more rural areas where there wouldn't really be any good options for students to live off campus. If this is a deal breaker for your kid, look at state schools or bigger private schools.

The Ivies have them as well.

Basically, the highly ranked schools require on campus living three or four years. The large state schools do not.

A number of big state U’s without residential mandates are ranked higher than many of the precious little LACs you’re undoubtedly thinking about. UCLA > Hamilton.

I feel so owned by this comment. Not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a parent getting all twisted up because her kid might not be able to get a cat or drink beer in his or her room senior year. Is this really a decision point, OP? Seriously?

OP here. It's a very significant factor for the student's decision making, yes. It's not about having a beer with your dog. It's about independence and autonomy. You know, making important choices for yourself as the adult that you are.

I should have known that SLAC grads from Tiny Rural Town, NewEngland would be overrepresented in the DCUM responses. If I went to school in Waterville, ME I'd likely stay on campus for 4 yrs, too.

If it is that big of an issue, then your kid should factor that in. But to make an issue of it by even starting a thread is silly. Do you think other high school seniors are not evaluating this as part of the thinking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of your post? If it’s a dealbreaker, he should go elsewhere. Not sure what the question is.

OP here. The purpose is merely to express surprise that this re$idential requirement is as common as it is, even at schools that aren't tiny enrollment rural LACs. I've a

Sometimes on DCUM people create posts that don't ask for advice. What happened to this CA family? $1 million in Brightwood! APS mask policy contradicts CDC. And that's ok.

Well, then it is a good thing you are finding out now, rather than next September.

Most of our kids realized this when they did a first pass of researching a school and prioritized accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The school is taking responsibility for Student Life, an aspect of college for which that many universities feel no responsibility. It's education the whole student, not just academics. The school probably has a much richer Student Life/Activities focus than other colleges. And much richer financial resources.

This is a very American point of view. Which makes sense! Because this is a US-based message board. But in many (most?) places in the world, this is not how college is. At all. When I moved here, it definitely took some getting used to and felt a lot like prolonged adolescence. Where I'm from (Germany), you mostly just go to school for classes like people go to their job in real life. Very few students live on campus, they live in the city in their own rented apartments (or some with family). "Student life" does not really exist- for personal life, we do things in the city rather than the structured events that are organized and ran by the college. You are expected to learn and live independently and the university is not going to organize a social life for you. In fact, many of your friends might not even go to your university. As a result of all this, you don't have the rigid separation between the university students and the greater community like you do in a lot of places in the US. Students just integrate into the city and are treated more like "regular residents. I personally think this is a good thing; others (see: many comments on this thread) prefer a more insulated experience, more like a boarding school, and that's fine. Different strokes.

Yes, it is true, the American collegiate experience is different than that of most of the rest of the world. that is part of why so many international students flock to US schools (or did pre Trump and Pre-Pandemic)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Local woman cannot understand why the world doesn’t bend to her will.



Exactly.

Reading is fundamental. But it's so hard.

OP said they were taking certain schools off the list now they know about the dorm requirement. There's no attempt to change the system

Don't worry - when you progress in your reading skills, you'll learn how to make reasonable inferences from the text. It'll be hard at first, but keep at it, and you'll get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a parent getting all twisted up because her kid might not be able to get a cat or drink beer in his or her room senior year. Is this really a decision point, OP? Seriously?

OP here. It's a very significant factor for the student's decision making, yes. It's not about having a beer with your dog. It's about independence and autonomy. You know, making important choices for yourself as the adult that you are.

I should have known that SLAC grads from Tiny Rural Town, NewEngland would be overrepresented in the DCUM responses. If I went to school in Waterville, ME I'd likely stay on campus for 4 yrs, too.

But you're the one with her panties in a knot, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You guys are really over-reacting. If your kid's #1 choice just went off his list for this...you are both mixed up.

There is more than one way to get to being a fully functional adult (or, put another way, living off campus in college is not the only road to Rome).

Really? Of all the hundreds of reasons people choose one college over another, you think factoring in living arrangements is over reacting? Now who's over reacting.
-Not OP

I think, "I may want to live off campus my senior year, and this college won't let me, so I'm not applying" is losing sight of the bigger picture.

I also am not, at all, surprised that OP's kid was red-shirted.

[Anonymous]

Mine required this. It was great. We developed life-long relationships. I ended up starting a company with 2 other people living on my floor and made millions when we sold it.

[Anonymous]

I think I would discouraging my kid from a school with the OPPOSITE policy. The residential experience is one of the big reasons you spend money on college rather than sending them to an online program.

Note also that most upperclass dorms are way nicer than my first apartment after I was an adult and married!

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the school and the housing. Renting an apartment can be very expensive and inconvenient. It has its pluses and minuses.

[Anonymous]

I think the German PP insufferable. But Europeans in general think their way is the best. Cultural thing.

[Anonymous]

If you are doing semester or more abroad it’s very helpful to have housing that fits with that. Move out end of fall and not return until September.