In Monday's edition of The State Press, it was reported that ASU President Michael Crow is considering making on-campus living mandatory for freshmen.
The University has purchased land on Apache Boulevard and Sunset Drive, and plans to purchase more land for developing student housing.
Crow said by making students live on campus their first year, "15 to 20 percent more will make it to their sophomore year."
Crow may have a point: I know many students who feel that living on campus helped them immensely -- both academically and emotionally -- to make the transition from high school to college. But in the long run, mandatory dorm living will just turn many students away.
The fact is that we have a large commuter campus. According to statistics released by the University for the 2002-03 school year, 50.5 percent of freshmen live off-campus or commute. Chances are with that many students commuting, people have reasons other than a lack of on-campus housing.
There are a number of valid reasons a student might choose not to live in a dorm. A friend of mine decided after graduating from high school that she wasn't ready to leave home. Since she wanted to go into medicine, UA seemed a logical choice. But because she felt so strongly about staying with her family, she decided to come to ASU instead.
While this may not be the norm for a recent high school grad, there are certainly those who want to stay at home for personal reasons. Perhaps students may not want to chance living in close proximity to alcohol or drug use. They may wish to remain close to loved ones. This should be the student's choice to make.
Or perhaps some freshmen might just feel renting a house or apartment would be a better use of their money. I can personally testify to that one. My freshman year I lived in Saguaro Hall. About two months into my stay I had tiles falling off of the ceiling about two feet from my bed. My sophomore year (obviously I had not yet learned my lesson) I lived in Cholla Apartments.
Among the many problems my roommates and I had, the worse had to be the constant leaking of our kitchen sink. No matter how many times we complained to maintenance, it never got properly fixed. I'm sure upon hearing stories like these, some students may decide that until living conditions improve, dorm living just isn't for them.
And living on campus is too expensive for some students. For many families, it's difficult to pay tuition, especially after the last few tuition hikes. It wouldn't be fair to expect already-struggling families to pay an unnecessary dorm expense.
Most likely, these students wouldn't even try. It would be much easier to enroll in a community college, where tuition is a third of what it is here. In fact, Maricopa Community Colleges offer free tuition to seniors graduating in the top 15 percent. The last thing we need to do is give the best and the brightest another reason to go to different school.
In the end, University officials could drive away as many students as they would like to retain by making on-campus residency a requirement. Not only that, but with the high prices associated with college, students should at least be able to use their money to find a living space that will make their years here as comfortable as possible.
Julie Messner is a journalism senior and still has nightmares about a ceiling tile falling on her head. Reach her at julie.messner@asu.edu.
