As a sophomore, who is actively involved in campus activities, I choose to live on campus so that I can get to my activities at any time, day or night, when I am needed.
Housing on-campus is great for me considering the fact that it is so close to all the facilities, such as the radio station or newsroom, and I can get there fast. This may not be the case for the remaining two years I have left.
As a freshman, it was easy to decide where we wanted to live: New Res, hands down. No if, and or buts about it. my friends and I were going to live in New Res. I wish every year was as easy as freshman year.
This year, it seems like everyday I hear a new rule, or a rumor about a rule, about the housing for juniors and seniors on-campus. Juniors and seniors, who choose to live on-campus, can live in either the Cabrini apartment complex, West Residence Hall or one of the seven houses on-campus or opt to live off-campus.
Cabrini apartment complex is so perplexing. One minute I hear that CAC is usually reserved for seniors and the next I hear that juniors are living there and that most seniors move off-campus.
However, the most confusing rule I’ve heard is that you can only live in CAC for one year. So why waste that one year on your junior year if you aren’t guaranteed to live there your senior year? Why get used to having a kitchen and being able to cook your own food for a year and then have it taken away the next?
The only way you can live in CAC for two years in a row is if you get a roommate who has not yet lived in the CAC. With that new roommate never living in CAC, it strengthens your chances of living in CAC for another year. But if you don’t find someone who hasn’t lived in CAC before, you have to live elsewhere?
West Residence Hall isn’t as confusing, except for the fact that you can live in a room of four or in a room of six. What isn’t fair is that in a room of six, there are two doubles and two singles. Why should two people get their own rooms while the other roommates are living in doubles?
If you don’t have six people to live in the dorm, and you only have five, then three people live in singles (with one having a larger room that was intended to be a double) with the last two roommates sharing a room. Also, since there is technically still a bed open, Cabrini’s residence life can place another student in the room, which leaves one person sharing a room with someone he or she barely knows. How is this fair to that new person, or to the friends that have already decided to live together as a five-some?
Lastly, you can choose to live in one of the seven houses that are on-campus. Most sophomores choose to live in the houses, which means seniors could be living with sophomores, which would make that house a “dry-house” even though most of those seniors are over the age of 21, the legal drinking age in Pennsylvania. How is that fair to those seniors who can party and drink legally?
There is always the option of moving off-campus. However, most students could lose money off of their scholarships, or worse, could lose their scholarship completely.
Why jeopardize your financial-aid by moving off-campus? It’s not worth it since you’re still putting out money to rent an apartment, buy furniture, and worse, purchase gas due to driving to and from school everyday.
Housing will always be a situation on campus, so let’s nip it in the but and start having some clarifications on the real rules of living on-campus.
