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What was freshman housing like?


gingersmom
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My daughter is anxiously awaiting to find out in the morning what dorm she was placed in.

 

She requested a quad as her first choice (4 lofted beds, desks, huge room with room for sofa plus room to spare).

 

Kids have been posting on Facebook that school called them and a room for 2 is becoming a room for 3. There was barely room for 2!

 

Now kids are finding out they are turning common room into a room for 8! They are calling kids ahead of time to tell them.

 

So far we have not been called. Fingers crossed!!!

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:huh: Seriously???  I would be asking for my BIG price reduction.

 

My daughter currently has a single within a suite that rooms 6 (2 doubles, 2 singles w/small common area and 2 bathrooms). Last year she had a traditional small double room in a older dorm with communal bathrooms. If she had to live with 8 people in close proximity like that she would not be able to function.

 

The double she had last year would not fit three beds unless they bunked 2 of them. And there were only two closets in her double...

 

Why would they do this? Is it only temporary while they finish new dorm construction or something?

 

Georgia

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At dd's college there is not enough housing for all students. So they have a "late application triple" to accommodate those who applied late--they get stuck with 2 others in a room originally meant not for 3, but 2.

 

I have a friend whose son was stuck like this. They did reduce the rent by a bit, but not by a lot. Kid hated it and ended up leaving the school after one year (for reasons other than that, but the dorm situation certainly contributed to his dislike!)

 

So it does happen, but dd had no such problems at the same school.

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I noticed that some schools accepted no one off of wait lists this year as they had greater yields than they had expected.  Stats seem to indicate that this year's admissions were even more competitive than last year.  If more students who are admitted commit to attending, they have to house them somewhere.  Other times it's temporary due to maintenance or construction.  I remember reading about St. Mary's in Maryland needing to use hotel rooms and even a ship for housing students due to mold issues.    I forget where, but some college last year utilized common rooms in the same way.  They put paper over the glass wall for partial privacy.   Hopefully it's all going to be very short term and hopefully the quad won't be affected.  It would be interesting if there's a study to see if students who are tripled in doubles or housed in common rooms are more likely to transfer out.  I think most students are much more adaptable than we think they are.  Gingersmom it looks like they've had this problem in past years and even resorted to using hotels, which parents say they've avoided since.  On the CC thread about housing, there's even mention of one student opting to stay in the temporary housing for the 2nd semester even though other housing became available.  They did give a rebate for the first semester housing.  I hope your daughter has a great freshman year. 

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This happened to my school way back int he dark ages.  I can't remember if they guaranteed housing or what.  But yes, doubles became triples.  Triples became quads.  Common rooms became a bedroom for 10.  The computer lab went caput and became 5 or 6 dorm rooms - imagine sleeping under the dining hall!  But like I said back int he dark ages.

 

Oldest dd has worked in housing.  Interesting stories she brings home.  It sounds more like at her college, they just do not have the rooms then you don't get housing.  Also interesting, she didn't apply to housing until June and she got a room.  (We are thrilled.)  I'm not sure she is happy with where she is living, it's kind of out from where her classes are.

 

 

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Good news!!

 

She got a quad in her second choice dorm!!! She is thrilled and relieved!!!

 

Apparently they had a much higher yield than was expected. They even took part of sophomore housing and gave it to freshman. I assume they were calling in advance to warn kids and reassure parents. I also wonder if they get a reduction in housing costs. My daughter did say at orientation they told them some doubles would become triples.

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All of my guys had standard double rooms with a communal bath down the hall for their freshman year.  Middle son's school has had a higher than expected yield for several years and had to have some forced triples (yes, they reduce the room cost) and one year had to turn common areas into rooms as well.  They've since opened at least one new dorm - maybe more - and have lowered their acceptance rate, so I think things are better now.  I'm not positive.

 

It's really tough on schools when yields are higher than anticipated and I think that's getting more common with schools that are popular for various reasons.

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Both of my older girls got the standard freshman housing for their school. The dorms were brand new (first one built the year before my oldest started there). All of their dorms are set up as three single-occupancy rooms in a suite with a small common area, a hallway with three sinks, a toilet room, and a shower room. I think the dorms are awesome. My middle dd loves the dorms and is staying there again this year for her 3rd year.

 

 

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My dd's were both assigned to the same dorm their freshman years... old (1929), beautiful, and basic. No air conditioning. :) Shared bathroom down the hall, all girls, nice lounges, a kitchen. DD#2 is moving in 3 weeks from now. A newish remodeled student area with coffee shop in the building. Dd#1 had a double... dd#2 has a single.

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Ds1 is at a school that does not require freshman to live on campus, so if they do their research they can get a nice apt, individual leases, for the same price as the dorm.

 

If youngest DS decides he wants to go away to school rather than commute, that may be something he looks for.  To say that he's not fond of the idea of dorm life is a huge understatement!

 

Oldest DS is in a private-but-affiliated-with-the-school-dorn (last year and again for this coming school year), so crowding more students into a room isn't something we've encountered.  He has a standard double occupancy room, and each room shares a connecting bathroom with another room.

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DS has been placed in a dorm that is reopening after an extensive remodel. They were expecting the occupancy permit this week, but I haven't heard if they really got it. I sure hope they did. 

 

Last fall at a different state university, a dorm that was being remodeled wasn't ready in time and they put everyone up at a hotel. I think it's a common solution when things like that happen. 

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If a school squeezes more kids into a dorm room than was advertised (i.e., 3 in a room meant for 2) -- does the school reduce the cost?  It seems to me they should.

 

That happened to me and I seem to remember that they did reduce the cost.  Of course this was about a million years ago, so I may not be remembering correctly.

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I was in a standard one room double with shared bathroom down the hall.  Dorm was built in 1805.  No coffee room, no common room, or any other amenities.  It was conveniently located near some classroom buildings and libraries.  The front door wasn't even locked in those old old days.  The only problem that allowed was one night a drunk student wandered in and sucker punched our proctor when ordered to leave.

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heres a fairly unbelieveable example of freshman housing, marble bathrooms, etc...:  (TS Eliot stayed here.)

 

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~trishin/sergey/galleries/2004/froshdorms/apley/

 

 

looks like the thread killer struck again.

 

It's rather depressing that the Harvard site uses "alluded" instead of "eluded," along with other cringe-worthy errors. 

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I wonder what all this doubling up does for fire code/safety issues?  

 

It can't do too much.  Middle son is an RA and they have to pass the fire code inspection, etc, so it all should be fine.  He gets to enforce many unpopular things at times though.  Last year his group tended to leave shoes outside in the hallway.  That can't happen.  At another time there was a room of students who had oodles of candles burning.  Uh, no!  Then the wall hangings...

 

But none of that is due to triples or common areas as rooms.

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It can't do too much.  Middle son is an RA and they have to pass the fire code inspection, etc, so it all should be fine.  He gets to enforce many unpopular things at times though.  Last year his group tended to leave shoes outside in the hallway.  That can't happen.  At another time there was a room of students who had oodles of candles burning.  Uh, no!  Then the wall hangings...

 

But none of that is due to triples or common areas as rooms.

 

But I would assume there are also occupancy limits that have to be adhered to?  I think occupancy limits apply to all "public" buildings?  A nearby church recently had to go to two services because with one service they were exceeding the occupancy limit for the sanctuary, which is in violation of the fire code.

 

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Ds decided to live at home and commute to college. Because he adores his mom you ask? No, there is room for computers, guitars,amps, tripods, cameras, green screens, and cats! :D

Though C chose commuting at this time due to his medical situation, the reality is he has two classical guitars, two acoustics, two basses, one electric, and all of his art supplies. I don't know how he would part with the art supplies, and since the art just kind of "grabs him in the moment", I cannot see him being happy going without and disciplining himself to only draw, paint, sculpt when he can get a time slot in one of the art studios on campus.

 

Eventually, I'd like to rent one of the small houses close to campus and put him in it with one or two other young men. He could manage this just fine because he'd have a larger bedroom of his own and could shut himself away to draw.

 

As for my dorms? Nothing special. Simple, small desk for two people, small closet to share, one not particularly robust four drawer dresser each, dorm refrigerator, and a radiator that couldn't properly heat the room in the winter and never shut off EVAH once the weather warmed up. So it was at most 60 degrees in the dead of winter - I spent a HUGE amount of time studying elsewhere and just came back to sleep under a pile of quilts that probably rivaled that of Yukon Territory campers - and 90 degrees by the time the spring semester let out the second week of May. (I slept on the floor in the hallway because it was 20 degrees cooler. Maintenance felt no inclination to do a thing about it. The building was quite old though so it probably needed a complete overhaul.

 

My roommate did not do well in college and did not return for the following year. However, a dear friend and I were supposed to double together for sophomore year, but her dad had a stroke three days before move-in, and was not expected to survive. She withdrew from school, and as luck would have it, they had more female housing than they needed at the time so I was never assigned a roommate. YAY! The next years were the same as well.

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