Keeping a clean room might be a rule of the past for most college students, but it is still a requirement for some campus residents.
Each semester, students in every residence hall are chosen to use their rooms as models for campus tours.
The rooms must be kept clean, and residents must observe Residential Life policies.
Tiffany Netters, communications and conference coordinator for the Department of Residential Life, said rooms were selected last year as part of a competition.
Netters and campus tour guides chose the winning rooms from a pool of applicants.
Students receive compensation for the use of their rooms.
“It’s not really a payment,” Netters said. “It’s a thank you.”
The “thank you” is $50 for the semester — $25 from Residential Life deposited into the student’s University accounts and $25 in Paw Points from LSU Dining.
The only rules are the rooms must be kept “presentable, marketable” and must not be in violation of Residential Life policies, such as having alcohol containers or candles, Netters said.
Netters said Residential Life gave tours to 3,600 prospective residents last year. She said an average of 30 people tour campus housing every day during the spring and fall semester, and about 70 people a day tour during the summer.
Netters said students can see a room in any building of their choice. During tours, incoming students are asked what type of housing they are interested in — single gender, coed or a residential college.
“It’s very customer-focused,” Netters said.
Leah Scott’s room in West Laville has been used for tours during the last year.
Scott, an English junior, said she never had a problem with the tour groups, and the tour guides were always informative, telling students the rooms’ accommodations for each building.
“The hardest thing was if I wanted to take a nap, I couldn’t take a nap any time they were coming around,” Scott said.
Alexis Nacchio, a biology freshman who lives in Miller, said she likes having her room used for tours.
“It’s nice having people come through and let them see what sorority life is like,” Nacchio said. She also said that it is not always easy to keep her dorm clean for tours because some days she does not feel like straightening up in the morning.
“You don’t want to scare their parents away by leaving your stuff around,” Nacchio said.