Starting this semester, all University freshmen are required to live on campus. So far, this policy has been met with mixed feelings.
The University had 29,292 students enrolled last spring and the number continues to grow with what is expected to be the largest freshmen class recorded. About 6,000 students live in on-campus dorms and apartments.
Associate Director of Communications and Development of Residential Life Catherine David said first-year students who live on campus are more likely to be engaged with the University, have higher GPAs and higher graduation rates, establishing a “foundation for success.”
“The University sees the value of the living requirement for the first-year students,” David said. “It helps students get immersed into the campus culture, finding their place at LSU. They feel comfortable so they can grow personally, academically and really flourish.
The University attempted to initiate the freshman residency requirement in 2008, but not enough housing was available to support the students.
David said the recent construction of the Nicholson Gateway Apartments for upperclassmen and Spruce Hall for freshmen gave the University enough beds to accommodate the freshman class and the upperclassmen who want to stay on campus.
The University was one of the last SEC schools without a “freshman live-on requirement,” according to David.
With so many students who live at the University, rumors struck that there was not enough parking for students on campus in all zones: residents, commuters and other reserved spaces. David said those rumors are false.
“People just don’t want to park far out and walk,” David said. “They want to be at their front door. That’s just not something this campus is designed for.”
David said the Department of Residential Life works with the Department of Parking and Transportation Services to make plans for the additional cars that will have an impact on the infrastructure anytime new resident halls or apartments are built. They also consider that not all 30,000 students will be on campus at once.
This fall, several lots were added near Aster Street and Tiger Band Hall to accommodate residents who bring their vehicles to campus.
Sociology freshman Anna Hurder has mixed feelings about living on campus. Hurder said that by living on campus she can be more in touch with the University, but she believes all of the academic things she could do in her dorm could have been accomplished in an apartment off campus.
“It’s easier to just walk out of my door and just get where I need to,” Hurder said.
The No. 1 complaint Hurder has about living on campus is the issue of parking.
“The fact that all freshman have to live on campus really escalates the [parking] problem,” Hurder said.
Music freshman Taylisse Boissonneault said living on campus is very convenient for her.
“Everything is close,” Boissonneault said. “The Pentagon is five minutes away from my music building, so that’s pretty nice.
Boissonneault said she has no complaints about parking because she owns a scooter.
“I feel like, for cars, it’d be horrible,” Boissonneault said.
Hurder and Boissonneault both said the gate outside the Pentagon that holds the residents’ cars has been broken for four days, causing students to walk around campus.
Both girls said despite this, they are enjoying living on campus.