Discovering Home Away From Home
By Leslie Klipsch
If you’ve ever visited a college town in late August, you won’t have much trouble believing that college students tend to be a transient bunch. As trailers and minivans line the streets and plastic storage tubs take over the sidewalks, traditional college students often discover that finding a place to call home can be an ever-changing process.
Dorm Dwelling
As an only child who had always enjoyed the space and privacy of having her own bedroom, Sarah Saunders, a 19-year-old sophomore at Winona State University in Winona, Minn., was nervous about unpacking her bags at the beginning of her freshman year in Lourdes Hall, a co-ed dormitory on campus. The very idea of having to walk to the shower or share a bathroom without knowing anyone, she says, was a frightening new challenge that seemed daunting. However, by the time her extra long twin bed sheets had been laundered a couple of times, she found that she had settled into her new home.
“By the end of the year, your neighbors and friends down the hall turn into your family,” she reflects. “I am so happy that I lived in the dorms my first year because I was forced to meet new people, I was rarely lonely, and there was always something going on.”
Such sentiment is shared by Anna Springer, a recent graduate of Loyola University in Chicago, Ill. During her first two years of college, Springer, who is originally from Kent, Ohio, lived in a co-ed dormitory that separated gender by wing. Her floor was designated an “honors floor” and because most of the students living there were taking the same courses, they ended up becoming a solid community that bonded during late nights in lounges while cramming for tests or working up to the same deadlines. Though she found that the hustle and bustle of dorm life could at times be stressful, she felt satisfied with her two years there.
This sort of positive experience is what housing coordinators across the Midwest hope to hear regarding the on-campus living experience of their students. Most school websites highlight relationship building along with convenience, practicality and added security for students as advantages of living in the dorms and in most cases, students find just that. If concerns do arise, schools with on-campus housing have a system in place to handle complaints from students with living issues. Communication is encouraged with a long chain of people willing to help, typically beginning with an RA (Resident Assistant) who is a trained student staff member responsible for easing distress as well as planning activities and providing information for those living on their floor.
Inching towards Independence
Though Saunders is living in the Winona State dorms again her sophomore year, she plans to move off campus her junior year. “I feel like a huge step in life is leaving high school to go to college. You make big life decisions, learn who you are as a person and learn to grow up. Next comes the step of not only having the responsibility of school, but also a house and bills to pay. I wasn’t ready for that my sophomore year, but next year I am sure I will be able to handle it,” she predicts.
Students choose to move off campus for a variety of reasons. Depending on the region, it is sometimes more economical to live in an apartment than it is to live in the dorms. Living off campus also allows students to opt out of a meal plan and experience more freedom in terms of guests, decorating and socializing. Such issues factored into Springer’s decision to move to an off-campus apartment on Chicago’s north side her junior year.
“The dorms were great for making friends and easing into the responsibilities of bills, landlords and maintenance issues,” she recalls. “But by the time I moved off campus, I not only had solid friends to move in with, but older friends who could help me navigate the neighborhood and rental process.”
According to Springer, one of the most important things that she did before moving off campus was to walk around Rogers Park, the neighborhood that is home to Loyola, and research her prospects. She also talked to friends who lived off campus about their neighbors, rent and landlords. It was important to her, she says, to make sure that the person she was renting from was reliable and that she wouldn’t run into unexpected problems after she moved in.
Many colleges, including Black Hawk College, which has a campus in Moline, Ill., provide this sort of off-campus living advice as part of their student services. Known as a “commuter college,” Black Hawk does not offer on-campus housing and therefore all students at the two-year university are faced with finding their own accommodations. About half of the student body is made up of traditional college students who have just graduated from high school and while some choose to live with parents or family members in order to save money, others live in the many apartment complexes just outside of campus.
Dr. Kim Armstrong, the Assistant Dean of Student Support Services, says that her department is happy to help students navigate their off-campus living situation by dispensing information, recommending nearby options and allowing students to post fliers in search of roommates. Because of the nature of a commuter college, her department handles the added responsibility of creating a positive learning community on campus. “Our student services credo is to create a welcoming community for learning,” she says. “We have a newly renovated student area with a ping pong table; we have another area where there are student performances and activities; we have tutoring areas around campus; and our faculty is very good about fostering learning communities and encouraging students to study together.”
The college also hosts picnics and social activities to encourage students to get to know one another and work together. “These are intentional, but not formal,” says Dr. Armstrong. “Students tend to meet other students that they may not have met—from all over the world—and they can build relationships and bond through social and co-curricular activities.
Intentional Living
The notion of community was important to Springer as she made the move to an apartment several blocks from Loyola University’s lakeshore campus. Rather than moving in with her best friends, she shared the first floor apartment of a three-flat house with four other women who had jointly decided to live in a way that was environmentally and socially responsible. The women tried to be intentional about the way that they used their living quarters. Aside from basic environmentally friendly decisions such as recycling, sharing groceries, using high energy light bulbs and taking short showers, they also incorporated a “community night” at which they discussed current social issues. The roommates also tried to share meals whenever possible as to create less waste, save money and facilitate a community of support. Of her experience Springer says, “Some of our efforts were more successful than others, but living in a place that was in line with my beliefs and values was really important in keeping me grounded during college.”
This sort of interest-based housing is something that today’s college students can consider whether living in the dorms (where choices range from honors floors to floors designated to specific studies such as “Women in Science and Engineering” or “Computer Science House”) or making the move off campus with a group of students sharing a similar interest or course of study. Students such as Springer appreciate the relationships built upon these common pursuits. In fact, upon graduating from Loyola, Springer has chosen once again to live in an “intentional community” as she pursues urban gardening in Detroit, Mich. She, like many, have considered her post-college living situation carefully, expectantly entering into a new phase of life in which a whole new set of opportunities and decisions regarding where to lay your head await.