By Huda Jabbar & Megan Brewer —
U of L freshmen are typically required to live on campus, but they can opt out and live at home with their parents.
While U of L is trying to ensure freshmen get the full college experience their first year, deciding where they must live shouldn’t be the way the university goes about it.
There is a broad range of housing options including living on campus, affiliated housing, off-campus apartments and living at home. Freshmen should have all of these options coming in, not just two.
For many students, the most favorable option is living in an off-campus apartment.
“I’ve lived at Bettie for the past year, and although I appreciate its closeness to campus and that it isn’t a traditional hall, I definitely plan on moving to off-campus housing just because it’s more bang for my buck,” sophomore Komal Gondal said.
Since on-campus housing is cheaper than affiliated housing or apartments in old Louisville, many students might have chosen to stay on campus after their required freshmen year.
Racking up more money in loans or paying more out of pocket for housing is not something any student wants to do, especially their first year.
Many freshmen don’t like that they are limited to living on campus or at home. They feel it’s just a tactic for the university to make money and with no real backing.
“I really didn’t want to live on campus having heard so many dorm horror stories, my parents planned to purchase an old Louisville area apartment, but I didn’t pass the appeal process for being allowed to go above the policy, and it feels like I just threw away money on a tiny space,” freshman Aisha Khan said.
Students can still get the full college experience and participate on campus without living on campus, as many upperclassmen do.
Freshmen are adults, and it seems unfair they aren’t able to choose their living arrangements.
Allowing freshmen to choose where they live would give them the opportunity to be a grown-up and make real life decisions.
File photo / The Louisville Cardinal
