Normally at this time of year, many juniors are still basking in the pleasure of having their own kitchen or living room. But this year, some juniors are finding themselves settling into off-campus apartments.
In a departure from typical housing policies, the Office of Housing and Residential Education granted 117 juniors off-campus housing for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The junior class received an e-mail in late May 2009 inviting them to apply for off-campus housing. Usually the privilege of off-campus housing is reserved for seniors. There were 254 juniors who applied to live off campus; around half were granted off-campus privileges.
Director of Housing and Residential Education Jason Jakubowski said the decision to grant juniors off-campus housing was a response to the low number of seniors applying for off-campus authorization.
“The number of seniors interested in living off campus was less than the number of students we did not have room for. … We turned to juniors to make up the gap.”
Junior Maggie Shanley said she applied to live off campus as a junior because she thought that it was a better option than the housing she was assigned to.
“I was supposed to live in Lupton,” Shanley said. “… I thought that (living off-campus) would be a much better idea because it allows a lot more freedom in terms of meal plan, and also we have so much more room and more options.”
Junior Anna Ross cited similar reasons.
“I thought it would be much more comfortable living off campus than living in Kissam,” Ross said. “I like having all the room and having a kitchen and not having a meal plan. I get more freedom this way; I can have my car here and I don’t have to pay for parking.”
Ross also said she had financial considerations in mind when applying for off-campus housing.
“Sharing rent with someone else is still a lot less expensive than living on campus,” she said.
Junior Will Colmer applied for off-campus housing but did not receive it. Colmer said although he was initially disappointed, he is happy living on campus.
“I think it worked out better that we didn’t get off-campus housing because now we are close to all of our classes, and we don’t have to find a place to live,” Colmer said. “It just would have been a hassle to try and figure things out off campus. Also, our housing turned out to be better than we expected.”
Shanley said she was worried about being away from campus, but said so far she has not felt a disconnect from the Vanderbilt community.
“I think it’s easy when you live off campus to be disconnected if you let yourself, but if you make an effort to stay present on campus, and talk to people on campus, especially if you have classes all during the day, it’s very possible to stay present,” Shanley said.
After a couple months both Shanley and Ross think that their off-campus experience has been a positive one.
“I really enjoy living off campus because you have the independence of having your own apartment, you actually have the responsibility of paying bills and getting exposure to more ‘real life’ aspects of college that I feel like Vanderbilt doesn’t normally allow us to have exposure to,” Shanley said.
Despite the increase in the number of juniors living off campus, Jakubowski does not think this reflects a trend toward off-campus living for Vanderbilt students.
“As we developed The Commons, Vanderbilt increased the percentage of students living on campus from less than 83 percent in 2005 to 90 percent this fall,” Jakubowski said.
“That demonstrates Vanderbilt’s commitment to residential education.”
Jakubowski said he is unsure if the trend of granting juniors off-campus housing will continue.
“With our current housing capacity, it will depend each year on the number of rising seniors interested in living off campus,” he said. “Their interest seems to fluctuate from year to year. If their interest does not exhaust the number of authorizations available, we will again turn to rising juniors.”
