Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Freshmen Required to Dorm

Fall 2010 was the first semester freshmen were required to live in the residential communities at CSULB.To many residents' suprise this was more than just a social experiment. First year students will be forced to dorm yet again next year.

"I thought they were only trying it for the 2010-11 school year, like just to see if the process agreed with the residents" said Ruby Amaya, resident of Los Alamitos. "I think alot of people thought it was only a one time thing."

Freshmen are required to live in the dorms unless they are older than 21 or living with their parents in a neighboring area. The exemption policy also allows students in the military, who are married or have children and with disablities to appeal to not live in the dorms. However, if the dorms are just not available to a student due to finances, the housing office does not put that in their exemption criteria.

"I think they should give us money since they want us to live in the dorms," said Shelly Janise. "Its just too expensive and i could have just stayed at CSU San Bernardino."

According to the Department of Housing and Residential life, reaserch shows that students who live in the dorms during their freshman year have an advantage over other students. The advantages include having a greater college experience, building long lasting relationships and greater educational aspiriations. The department of housing says that the policy is for the betterment of the students.

"The dorms were so empty last year, empty rooms, less people." Said Nicole Williams, a second year resident. "but they just wanted to fill up the dorms because they want the revenue, nothing to do with my growth."

Studies also show that students who lived on campus their freshman year have a higher retention and graduation rates than others. This shows requiring freshman to dorm is in the best interest of the student but residents remain skeptical.

-Leslie Campos

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Will Tuition Hikes Create More Problems?

    On Wednesday, CSULB, as well as many other CSU campuses, hosted a protest called Take "Class Action" in order to raise awareness about even bigger budget cuts to the CSU system and to rally support in hopes of decreasing the potential budget cuts.

          So what does this mean for CSULB housing? More crowding in the dorms, higher prices to live on campus, the continuation of mandatory on-campus housing for incoming freshman, and less money for the RA's to use to host events.

          "These budget cuts are really affecting every aspect of CSULB, including housing," said R.A. Tait Kilgore. "It takes effect all over campus."

          To live in the dorms costs over $10,000 per year as it is. With further budget cuts, RA's will have to deal with crowding in the dorms due to mandatory on-campus housing for freshman and further cuts from their budgets to host events.

          "I'm even worried that we may get less stipends for being RA's," said Kilgore.

          Until the budget gets sorted out for next school year, RA's as well as everyone else are on edge about how the budget cuts will effect them.

-Lauren Weiss