Off-campus living not meant for freshmen
Freshman writer tells her experience living off campus
Elle Greenberry
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Opinion
Thanksgiving break is almost here, and my first semester as a college student is winding down. I have taken some steps already that will prepare me for life after college, mostly living off campus.
Despite the university's policies that all freshmen must live on campus, many do not. I am an out-of-state freshman who lives off campus. I appealed to the university but was consistently told they could not guarantee I would have a dorm for this fall.
I, however, did get a dorm assignment after I signed a lease somewhere else.
The university should perhaps implement their freshmen residency policy more diligently. Freshmen should have priority when it comes to on-campus housing. Studies have shown that freshmen who live on campus perform better in their academic work and are more involved with the university. While all students probably benefit from staying on campus, it is more beneficial to start out your college career on campus.
Living off campus hasn't been excruciatingly hard. I just don't attend as many on-campus events as I would like to. I don't want to walk back home in the dark with all the recent campus mishaps. There has also been a lot of construction on the street to get to my apartment.
My apartment complex is actually a gated community, but the crime that happens in the complex seems to be twice that of what is normal in Jonesboro. Then there is the weather and stray animals when I walk my commute to campus.
Upperclassmen have a higher sense of obligation, loyalty, maturity and responsibility than most traditional freshman. They already feel a connection to the university from staying on campus in previous years.
I'm not saying only freshmen should stay on campus. They should just be the first to get the dorms and if that means the university raises their standards to be accepted to this institution of higher learning, then so be it. International students, out-of-state students, athletes and scholarship students should all also be placed in dorms before the rest of the student body. The university is very capable of housing all students and should've been better prepared.
My experience at ASU has been overwhelmingly triumphant. Professor Alex Brown once said "Experience may be good, bad and crazy but that it should be insightful, even if only to me." I have been told experience can be pollution to your soul by loss of innocence, and Brown countered this statement saying, "Innocence and naivety are over-rated as a virtue." This is college, so being here I am inevitably going to lose some innocence and naiveté. I have grown and matured from that loss and by living on my own. Independence is definitely something college students strive to attain.
The grass is always greener on the other side; my situation might have been heaven to other freshmen on campus. I certainly had more space, privacy and the ability to party, which campus life simply didn't permit.
Despite the university's policies that all freshmen must live on campus, many do not. I am an out-of-state freshman who lives off campus. I appealed to the university but was consistently told they could not guarantee I would have a dorm for this fall.
I, however, did get a dorm assignment after I signed a lease somewhere else.
The university should perhaps implement their freshmen residency policy more diligently. Freshmen should have priority when it comes to on-campus housing. Studies have shown that freshmen who live on campus perform better in their academic work and are more involved with the university. While all students probably benefit from staying on campus, it is more beneficial to start out your college career on campus.
Living off campus hasn't been excruciatingly hard. I just don't attend as many on-campus events as I would like to. I don't want to walk back home in the dark with all the recent campus mishaps. There has also been a lot of construction on the street to get to my apartment.
My apartment complex is actually a gated community, but the crime that happens in the complex seems to be twice that of what is normal in Jonesboro. Then there is the weather and stray animals when I walk my commute to campus.
Upperclassmen have a higher sense of obligation, loyalty, maturity and responsibility than most traditional freshman. They already feel a connection to the university from staying on campus in previous years.
I'm not saying only freshmen should stay on campus. They should just be the first to get the dorms and if that means the university raises their standards to be accepted to this institution of higher learning, then so be it. International students, out-of-state students, athletes and scholarship students should all also be placed in dorms before the rest of the student body. The university is very capable of housing all students and should've been better prepared.
My experience at ASU has been overwhelmingly triumphant. Professor Alex Brown once said "Experience may be good, bad and crazy but that it should be insightful, even if only to me." I have been told experience can be pollution to your soul by loss of innocence, and Brown countered this statement saying, "Innocence and naivety are over-rated as a virtue." This is college, so being here I am inevitably going to lose some innocence and naiveté. I have grown and matured from that loss and by living on my own. Independence is definitely something college students strive to attain.
The grass is always greener on the other side; my situation might have been heaven to other freshmen on campus. I certainly had more space, privacy and the ability to party, which campus life simply didn't permit.
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Bill Carey
posted 11/30/08 @ 3:44 PM CST
Hello Elle,
We find that many Universities require Freshman to live on campus and as you have experienced the facilities are not always available.
I would like to use you article on our website CollegeTowneProperties. (Continued…)
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