Do universities still let students live off campus?

[Roadgeekteen]

At UMass, students are required to live on campus freshman year only. Most stay on campus sophomore year, and many move off Junior year.

I'm surprised the different UMass campuses have different policies. (UMass Lowell has no such requirement.)

UMass Amherst does have an exception if you live within 40 miles to the campus already (aka a student who lives in Amherst). The other branch UMass campuses probably all have the same rules as Lowell.

The West is the Best. ZoooooooMass!

Except at sports.

*facepalm*

The "West" are the Southwest dorms, notoriously poorly maintained and trashed by the dregs of society that attend UMass Amherst.  Fire extinguisher fights, elevator surfing and general debauchery reign therein.

I live in one of towers in Southwest (if you really want to know what tower I live in, message me I don't want to give away too much personal information public on the internet).

You poor soul.

It's honestly fine. I heard that UMass has calmed down a bit lately. It's still fun though.

[Rothman]

At UMass, students are required to live on campus freshman year only. Most stay on campus sophomore year, and many move off Junior year.

I'm surprised the different UMass campuses have different policies. (UMass Lowell has no such requirement.)

UMass Amherst does have an exception if you live within 40 miles to the campus already (aka a student who lives in Amherst). The other branch UMass campuses probably all have the same rules as Lowell.

The West is the Best. ZoooooooMass!

Except at sports.

*facepalm*

The "West" are the Southwest dorms, notoriously poorly maintained and trashed by the dregs of society that attend UMass Amherst.  Fire extinguisher fights, elevator surfing and general debauchery reign therein.

I live in one of towers in Southwest (if you really want to know what tower I live in, message me I don't want to give away too much personal information public on the internet).

You poor soul.

It's honestly fine. I heard that UMass has calmed down a bit lately. It's still fun though.

Nope.  Not that UMass is or ever was the biggest party school (not by a long shot), but drunk stupidity still abounds...as well as a hand foot mouth disease bonus this year.

https://www.gazettenet.com/College-students-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Amherst-45396326

[Ted$8roadFan]

At UMass, students are required to live on campus freshman year only. Most stay on campus sophomore year, and many move off Junior year.

As a UMass student in the 90s, all freshmen, er "First Year Students"  were required to live on campus unless you lived within 40 miles of campus as others have mentioned (I did not). Almost all sophomores lived on campus as well, with many making a beeline to Puffton Village at the end of their second year. I think if you had a certain number of credits, you could live off campus regardless of your class.

[CoreySamson]

Nope.  Not that UMass is or ever was the biggest party school (not by a long shot), but drunk stupidity still abounds...as well as a hand foot mouth disease bonus this year.

https://www.gazettenet.com/College-students-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Amherst-45396326

Makes me glad to be at a school that has almost no parties (I say almost because I heard the basketball team and baseball team sometimes have them on their floors, or so I'm told). We still have tons of fun, but it's cool not having to deal with crap like that.

[andrepoiy]

Well, if you want to hear some party school stories...

The first homecoming street party at my school after COVID had around 8000 attendees

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/8-000-people-pack-the-university-district-in-kingston-ont-to-celebrate-homecoming-weekend-at-queen-s-university-1.5625959

They had cops in riot gear.

After this event, the City would import cops from all over the province for subsequent street parties. The farthest cops I've seen hailed from Peel Region (where Mississauga, Ontario is)

Image is a random one from Google Images


Aftermath:

[7/8]

^ Ezra St in Waterloo, ON is popular for the St. Patrick's Day party. It's right near Laurier, but also not too far from UWaterloo so students from both schools go. This article says the crowd reached 33 000 in 2019, but it seems COVID and increasing police presence have dampened the crowds since. I remember going once or twice to check it out, but not sure which years (would've been between 2014 and 2018).

As for the thread question, neither my school (Waterloo) nor my brothers' schools (Guelph and Conestoga) required first-years (or any students) to reside on campus. I'm personally happy about that because I saved thousands of dollars by living at home (and frankly it was a big reason I chose to apply to Waterloo) and I still made friends pretty quickly. It helped that my program had the same students attend all the same classes for first year, so you'd spend the whole day with the same classmates (not to mention all the after-class homework we worked on together in the computer labs). Aah, the hard-working days of engineering school.

[andrepoiy]

Pretty interesting how after street parties got mentioned, this thread went dead silent for almost a week now. Was there something wrong with discussing street parties?

[Dirt Roads]

Pretty interesting how after street parties got mentioned, this thread went dead silent for almost a week now. Was there something wrong with discussing street parties?

Perhaps because it is now illegal to burn a sofa couch on Willey Street (US-119) in Morgantown, West Virginia (or anywhere else in the Mountain State, for that matter).  Of course, that law might be ignored if WVU ever wins against a #1 ranked team.

[Roadgeekteen]

Pretty interesting how after street parties got mentioned, this thread went dead silent for almost a week now. Was there something wrong with discussing street parties?

People probably just got tired of posting and discussing this thread

[stanwoods]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general, I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere. I live on campus, and I like it, especially the library, where I can find a lot of useful materials. When I do homework, I need it because it can be so complicated. Pretty often, I use the help of https://essays.edubirdie.com/economics-assignments because math tasks are always the most complicated, and even all that info can not help sometimes. And the library sources, too.

[bing101]

California State University don't require people to live on Campus. When I was there at their Sacramento Campus people tend to commute to school from other parts of the city.

[SEWIGuy]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere

Many schools, almost entirely private, have requirements for students to live on campus unless their permanent home is geographically close. It's not that unheard of.

[bandit957]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere

Many schools, almost entirely private, have requirements for students to live on campus unless their permanent home is geographically close. It's not that unheard of.

Public schools are starting to do this now too.

[SEWIGuy]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere

Many schools, almost entirely private, have requirements for students to live on campus unless their permanent home is geographically close. It's not that unheard of.

Public schools are starting to do this now too.

Probably true. They are likely doing so for two reasons. First, students perform better academically when they live on campus - or at home. Second, schools need the income to pay off the debt they incurred to build the residence halls.

[kkt]

Students especially in their first year are more likely to make some friends and fit in if they live in the dorm.

[formulanone]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere

Many schools, almost entirely private, have requirements for students to live on campus unless their permanent home is geographically close. It's not that unheard of.

Public schools are starting to do this now too.

Probably true. They are likely doing so for two reasons. First, students perform better academically when they live on campus - or at home. Second, schools need the income to pay off the debt they incurred to build the residence halls.

When I went to college, those dormitories were textbook examples of nearly fully-depreciated assets.

[SEWIGuy]

I've never heard that it's a must for students to live on campus. And I think now you need to be lucky to get a place there because there are more students than in the dormitory.
And in general I have no idea how it could even been possible not to have an option to live elsewhere

Many schools, almost entirely private, have requirements for students to live on campus unless their permanent home is geographically close. It's not that unheard of.

Public schools are starting to do this now too.

Probably true. They are likely doing so for two reasons. First, students perform better academically when they live on campus - or at home. Second, schools need the income to pay off the debt they incurred to build the residence halls.

When I went to college, those dormitories were textbook examples of nearly fully-depreciated assets.

Or you were likely paying for the recently remodeled or newly constructed one that you didn't get to live in.

[Rothman]

The rule that first years must live on campus is becoming frustratingly common (having one kid who graduated from college over a year ago and one still in college).  It's a racket.

Even worse are schools that require students to live in "approved housing," thus causing a false scarcity in housing and landlords jacking up their prices (e.g., the BYU campuses).

[Molandfreak]

Then at the same time, community college credits are getting harder to transfer. It's almost to the point where the only plan that makes sense these days is going to a public university from the start. Might as well just encourage kids to get into the workforce right away until they can figure this out for themselves, I'm a much better student now than I was at 18.

[kkt]

Transfer credits work pretty well here.  Perhaps it depends on your state.  Yes, that is something to investigate thoroughly before you decide where to  go.

A gap year is a good idea too, unless you're already absolutely sure what you want to do.  And who is, at 18?

[bandit957]

I went to NKU and later community college. I have a feeling that if I ever want to go back to NKU (which I don't), they won't transfer my community college credits.

I'm 51, so I think it's moot now. It's just a shame they don't build college towns for 51-year-olds.

[SEWIGuy]

Then at the same time, community college credits are getting harder to transfer.

I have no idea where you live, but that is actually not the case in most places, where they are generally much easier to transfer than they were a generation ago.

[Jim]

As a faculty member at a 4-year school, I can say that we have more articulation agreements than ever to make the transfer path as smooth as possible for those with a degree or even just with various courses from community colleges in our region.  And when we get interest from a student outside the network of agreements, I as a department chair am asked for a quick evaluation of relevant courses in my department so the student knows what they will count as should they come to our school.

[jeffandnicole]

Then at the same time, community college credits are getting harder to transfer.

I have no idea where you live, but that is actually not the case in most places, where they are generally much easier to transfer than they were a generation ago.

Our main university in this area (Rowan) has either taken over or partnered with many community colleges, and nearly all are now pretty much satellite campuses of the main university.

[Sctvhound]

At College of Charleston even freshmen do not have stay on campus. Charleston is so crowded in the downtown area there isn't enough space for even them to stay in all the dorms on campus.

Over the last few years there have been dorms that have been renovated and they've had students stay in hotels nearby for the first semester.

I commuted in all 4 years as it was way cheaper and I lived only 10 minutes away so at night I could drive to the library and get work done and park there. During the daytime all the parking by there is taken by faculty and staff.