In may of 2009, I sat at my computer waiting for the clock to strike six. It was the day I was assigned to sign up for a dorm room. As I logged onto Brigham Young University's website I saw a message stating all on campus housing for women was full. I was devastated. Where was I supposed to live now. I had gotten accepted to BYU but if I had no where to live I couldn't go there. Unlike most other colleges around the united states, Brigham Young University does not even have enough on-campus housing to house all its incoming freshman. That causes lots of problems.
Unlike the freshman who got into on-campus housing, those who are not lucky enough to make it in have more stress put on them. They have to worry about where they are going to live, how far that is from campus, and they have to figure all this out without having ever stepped foot on campus. This is a lot of pressure to put on someone who is leaving home for the first time. They have the stress of getting to class on time from a farther distance. They also have the fear of getting lost trying to find their way around off campus. I think that a lot of the freshman year stress would be reduced if all freshman could live on campus in the dorms.
On-campus housing also has some added benefits to living off campus for the first year. Those who live on-campus have the opportunity to meet lots of new people who are the same age as themselves and who are going through the same difficulties. This forms more lasting friendships and bonds. Unlike those who live off campus who are around older people who don't remember what it is like to be new and have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
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Liz I can see where you're coming from! I live at Raintree Apartments, and all five of my roommates are return missionaries and attend UVU.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, you present good reasons why BYU should consider increasing on-campus housing. Have you thought of a way that BYU could accommodate more freshmen on campus?
Josh that's a good point, it's one thing to argue that we need more room for freshman on-campus (which I completely agree with), but what will really get attention is an actual solution to the problem. How would you fix it? New buildings? Would the benefits outweigh the costs?
ReplyDeleteWell I know that there used to be dorms called Deseret Towers. They tore them down because they were outdated or something but they could always build new ones. Every year BYU receives more and more applications. If they built more dorms they could accommodate more students.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure the building of more dorms would allow BYU to accommodate more students. I do know that it would lessen the anxiety of freshman. Another plus, it that the housing run by the university seems to be less expensive and better kept. the university benefits from our business, and we benefit from the university.
ReplyDeleteThanks for you comments. they were very helpful
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