Following the construction of new dormitories and parking lots on campus, the University decided to implement new rules for freshman residence.
Starting this year, freshmen at the University are required to live in one of the dormitories on campus unless they are 21 or above, married, raising a child, on leave from the military, or living at home within 50 miles of the campus.
Freshmen and dorm rooms have been as classic a pair as Tina and Ike. If 1980s college flicks are anything to go by, freshmen must exist in dorms.
College students and high school teachers alike recommend dormitories to high school seniors preparing to head out to college.
Experienced people will always tell you the same trite platitudes. “You’ll be closer to study buddies.” “It’s a cleaner environment.” They’ll tell you dorms are the way to go not because they believe it, but because they think they need to believe it.
No one likes dorms. If anyone says otherwise, they’re lying. If they say dorms are better for freshmen, they’re wrong. Many studies try to find correlations between freshmen living situations and their grades, but most studies come up spurious.
The bigger factor for a student is more often economic status, to determine whether or not they live in a dorm. And while we’re talking about finances, it’s time to bring up the real motivation for the University’s new policies.
Universities have to make money to support their facilities. Unfortunately, they have to use predatory corporate tactics to achieve their goals.
Books are important for education, but everyone needs a place to call home during those four years. Even with TOPS drastically lightening the load for Louisiana students, the University comes in to lighten our wallets by offering residence halls.
First-year students can find lodging for around $3000 per semester. Both cheaper and more expensive dorms can be found on the University’s campus, but most residences range from $3000 to $3500.
The average semester’s rent for an apartment in Louisiana is $2,054, a thousand bucks cheaper than most campus dorms.
The University’s surely not looking to take away students’ freedom by restricting them to campus just for the fun of it. Forcing students to live on campus has two major benefits for the University.
First, it removes competition, which will allow them to set prices as high as they want. Second, it means all the funds freshmen spend on room and board go directly to the University.
It’s a sad day when our flagship center of learning is employing monopoly tactics on vulnerable freshmen and their worried parents. College finances are an age-old problem, and they’re only getting worse. Targeting the students, however, is not the right way to amend the problem.
Education should be at the top of the totem pole in universities. Every extra thousand dollars the University leeches from a freshman is another thousand unable to be spent on books or tuition or food. Education is the key to success, and students should not be the victims of predatory tactics to fill a university’s bank.
Kyle Richoux is a 20-year-old sociology junior from LaPlace, Louisiana.
