While Resident Life departments aim to do the best for their campuses and their staff, it is not met with mixed feelings on how the system is run. Cabrini College is no different.
Though many Cabrini resident assistants do not complain about their time spent with Cabrini Residence Life, some do. Reservations held against Cabrini’s Residence Life range from insufficient meal plans and pay, to a lack of teamwork and unfairness from the directors.
Differing on who is asked, Cabrini’s Residence Life is either praised or criticized. While both opinions are readily available and a complete consensus seems to meet in the middle, where does our Residence Life stand in comparison to others? And what are the reasons for the rules that are in place?
The “Resident Assistants” section on Cabrini’s website lists the perks of being a resident assistant. These perks include a partial meal plan, free single room, and numerous other leadership-building benefits.
“In talking to my peers and friend at various institutions, I think we are comparable for the size of our department,” Sue Kramer, director of Residence Life at Cabrini, said. “Our compensation package is comparable with other colleges in our consortium; the added perks are comparable if not a bit better than theirs as well.”
According to Jennifer Nelson, once a Residence Coordinator for Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Seton Hall covers all costs for living and meals for their resident assistants, unlike Cabrini.
In an email response by Franklyn Cantor, coordinator of Residential Life at Haverford College, he explained that the upperclassmen living in their residence halls do so on a complete volunteer basis and there are “no set of perks or privileges afforded to them.”
With Seton Hall at one end of the spectrum and Haverford College at the other, Cabrini seems to fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to incentives.
While Cabrini ResLife only covers a fraction of resident assistants meals, they have never limited them to the amount of meals they can have, Kramer, who calls the Cabrini Residence Life team her family, said. “RAs could always upgrade to the 14 or 19 meal plan if they wanted.”
Aside from the covered meals and living, Brittany Sanner, junior psychology major with a minor in leadership, finds the relationships she’s been able to build as the greatest part of being a resident assistant at Cabrini. “It’s the feeling like you have a home away from home—the RA staff is like a little family,” Sanner said. “I love it. We are always there for each other.”
Depending on the school, being a resident assistant can be a paid position, volunteer or even unionized, in the case of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Having resident assistants part of a union may seem like all positives for the staff, due to unionization often meaning higher wages and collective bargaining, but according to Jean Ahlstrand Mackimmie, director of Residence Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cabrini offers the same, if not more, than the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Resident assistants at University of Massachusetts Amherst are granted a room waiver for the full cost of a double room, a residential service fee waiver and a cash stipend for $4000 for the academic year. Meals are not included.
For those who are unhappy about their time spent with Cabrini Residence Life, Kramer believes, though admittedly harsh, that at the end of the day being a resident assistant is a position they themselves signed up for. “We do not hide that this is not just a job, but a lifestyle,” Kramer said.
