Don't let your kid move off campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After sophomore year they will insist that everyone is moving out. They can't possibly live in a dorm or campus apartment. It will be cheaper. The will work to help pay for it. Don't buy any of this. Your student's chances of persisting to graduation drop off a cliff, statistically, once they move off campus. I know. I'm a dinosaur. Flame away. It's the truth.

#PublicUniversityProblems

Public universities have too many kids, too few dorms, the gap between bottom 20% and top 20% is vast, and there are too few faculty to have face-to-face interaction with struggling kids.

At a public U if you're goofing off you can EASILY find other goofs to clown around with. Miss class for months? Nobody cares. Fail all your classes? Nobody cares. Go home and never come back? Nobody cares.

At decent privates you ditch one class everyone knows. Your door is getting knocked on by faculty. Your classmates are going to bother you. You'll be seen as abnormal. You can't fly under the radar at a decent private.

This was untrue at Harvard.

It’s untrue at every college in the country. I don’t know what PP is smoking.

it is probably not untrue at that special needs college in Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After sophomore year they will insist that everyone is moving out. They can't possibly live in a dorm or campus apartment. It will be cheaper. The will work to help pay for it. Don't buy any of this. Your student's chances of persisting to graduation drop off a cliff, statistically, once they move off campus. I know. I'm a dinosaur. Flame away. It's the truth.

#PublicUniversityProblems

Public universities have too many kids, too few dorms, the gap between bottom 20% and top 20% is vast, and there are too few faculty to have face-to-face interaction with struggling kids.

At a public U if you're goofing off you can EASILY find other goofs to clown around with. Miss class for months? Nobody cares. Fail all your classes? Nobody cares. Go home and never come back? Nobody cares.

At decent privates you ditch one class everyone knows. Your door is getting knocked on by faculty. Your classmates are going to bother you. You'll be seen as abnormal. You can't fly under the radar at a decent private.

This was untrue at Harvard.

It’s untrue at every college in the country. I don’t know what PP is smoking.

it is probably not untrue at that special needs college in Florida.

I keep hoping the PP will come back to explain which college, exactly, had faculty who went to some kid's door because the kid decided to "ditch one class." I can't imagine what that would look like. None of my professors EVER came anywhere near my door, on campus or off. This was Harvard. My profs had better things to do with their time than go to some undergrad's door to nag about missing class.

I expect my ds's profs to be superior in their fields, and to be actively writing/researching. It isn't their job to look after my kid, who is mature enough to get himself to class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody lives on campus through senior year.

I was a dork and lived on campus all four years, but I had a lot of friends who lived off-campus.

They all ended up with four-year degrees and went to grad school or professional school.

This was at a moderately selective, reasonably down-to-earth private university with middle-of-the-road parties. Maybe the situation would be different at an extreme party school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody lives on campus through senior year.

I did and so did everyone I know at my college. The places off campus were gross and not so safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After sophomore year they will insist that everyone is moving out. They can't possibly live in a dorm or campus apartment. It will be cheaper. The will work to help pay for it. Don't buy any of this. Your student's chances of persisting to graduation drop off a cliff, statistically, once they move off campus. I know. I'm a dinosaur. Flame away. It's the truth.

#PublicUniversityProblems

Public universities have too many kids, too few dorms, the gap between bottom 20% and top 20% is vast, and there are too few faculty to have face-to-face interaction with struggling kids.

At a public U if you're goofing off you can EASILY find other goofs to clown around with. Miss class for months? Nobody cares. Fail all your classes? Nobody cares. Go home and never come back? Nobody cares.

At decent privates you ditch one class everyone knows. Your door is getting knocked on by faculty. Your classmates are going to bother you. You'll be seen as abnormal. You can't fly under the radar at a decent private.

This was untrue at Harvard.

It’s untrue at every college in the country. I don’t know what PP is smoking.

it is probably not untrue at that special needs college in Florida.

I keep hoping the PP will come back to explain which college, exactly, had faculty who went to some kid's door because the kid decided to "ditch one class." I can't imagine what that would look like. None of my professors EVER came anywhere near my door, on campus or off. This was Harvard. My profs had better things to do with their time than go to some undergrad's door to nag about missing class.

I expect my ds's profs to be superior in their fields, and to be actively writing/researching. It isn't their job to look after my kid, who is mature enough to get himself to class.

I do wish that someone was knocking on the door of students who are showing signs of depression. Sometimes the sign is missing a lot of classes, missing several problem sets, etc. The "knocker" shouldn't be a faculty member, but maybe a student life representative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD moved into an apartment complex near her public university that runs constant shuttles to campus (after freshman year on campus). She had no drop in grades. She enjoyed cooking her own food, having an entire bedroom to herself, being able to speak in a normal speaking voice after 11 pm, and sleeping in a full bed instead of in a lofted twin like a 7 year old boy. When she turns 21, I'm sure she'll enjoy being able to have an adult beverage without being written up by an RA.

Living in a dorm all four years is probably fine if you live in a residential college where everyone does it.

Wow. I'm a 43 year old mom who has slept in a twin bed for at least the last 10 yrs. Let me tell you something- it's not the end of the world. Pass it on.

[Anonymous]

Totally depends on the school. At mine, very few moved off campus because there was no "off campus." Middle of nowhere except for a few slum lords.

[Anonymous]

Colleges and universities do not want ANY responsibility for the well being of students, which is why many are getting out of the housing business. Faculty and staff are actively discouraged from inquiring into student health or high risk behaviors, as any precedent in this direction sets the institution up for liability. This is true even at schools with church affiliation.

Nevertheless, students in campus housing fare much better than those living off campus in housing with other students. The connection to campus life pretty much ends when they move out.

[Anonymous]

Here is an article with some of the stats to back up OP's position.
https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/09/01/why-living-on-campus-is-good-for-students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is an article with some of the stats to back up OP's position.
https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/09/01/why-living-on-campus-is-good-for-students

This is really more the consequences of sending everyone to college. A kid who is socially mature, psychologically healthy, and intellectually capable is going to be fine in our out of the dorms. But these days, we send EVERY kid to college, and some of them can't handle it.

For the parents who think their kids are unable to graduate unless forced to live in dorms, what happens after college?

[Anonymous]

My son attends Grinnell where the expectation is for students to live in college housing all four years. Obviously there are a few exceptions (the two kids he knows who are actually from Grinnell could live at home - both chose not to, married students, etc) but 4 years on campus was a big selling point IMO.
I don’t think faculty knock on the door but I know if you miss 2 classes in a row the professor will text/email/call to see what’s going on.
Plus being on campus - and the associated dining privileges mean students have access to food. Grinnell has students who depend on the school for food and thankfully they dont get kicked out of the dorms to make room for the first years.
The dorms provide a community and, especially for students who are poor, a safety net.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends Grinnell where the expectation is for students to live in college housing all four years. Obviously there are a few exceptions (the two kids he knows who are actually from Grinnell could live at home - both chose not to, married students, etc) but 4 years on campus was a big selling point IMO.
I don’t think faculty knock on the door but I know if you miss 2 classes in a row the professor will text/email/call to see what’s going on.
Plus being on campus - and the associated dining privileges mean students have access to food. Grinnell has students who depend on the school for food and thankfully they dont get kicked out of the dorms to make room for the first years.
The dorms provide a community and, especially for students who are poor, a safety net.

PP here, before people say my kid is an immature idiot, he is mature, attends class and does well. But not every kid has enjoyed the advantages that he has and may hit a few speed bumps on the way to adulthood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends Grinnell where the expectation is for students to live in college housing all four years. Obviously there are a few exceptions (the two kids he knows who are actually from Grinnell could live at home - both chose not to, married students, etc) but 4 years on campus was a big selling point IMO.
I don’t think faculty knock on the door but I know if you miss 2 classes in a row the professor will text/email/call to see what’s going on.
Plus being on campus - and the associated dining privileges mean students have access to food. Grinnell has students who depend on the school for food and thankfully they dont get kicked out of the dorms to make room for the first years.
The dorms provide a community and, especially for students who are poor, a safety net.

This is a good point. My daughter goes to Wisconsin and I do know it’s becoming more and more of an issue that rent is becoming extremely high in the campus area, which is leaving poor students to go further and further off campus in search of apartments they can afford- and obviously that can widen the already large gap between rich and poor students in terms of outcomes, engagement with the campus community, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son attends Grinnell where the expectation is for students to live in college housing all four years. Obviously there are a few exceptions (the two kids he knows who are actually from Grinnell could live at home - both chose not to, married students, etc) but 4 years on campus was a big selling point IMO.
I don’t think faculty knock on the door but I know if you miss 2 classes in a row the professor will text/email/call to see what’s going on.
Plus being on campus - and the associated dining privileges mean students have access to food. Grinnell has students who depend on the school for food and thankfully they dont get kicked out of the dorms to make room for the first years.
The dorms provide a community and, especially for students who are poor, a safety net.

And again, too many people are being admitted to college: THIS is the problem. This helps nobody. If colleges like this stopped admitting almost everyone, they would be able to award need-based scholarships and grants for the economically disadvantaged students. But admitting everyone, and then forcing economically disadvantaged AND less academically capable kids to take out huge loans and scrape by miserably, helps nobody, including those kids.

[Anonymous]

No one at my LAC every knocked on anyone's dorm room. I've never heard of such a thing.