Dear Parents, Guardians, and Supporters,
Greetings from UP’s Office of Residence Life! I hope that all is well as you prepare for the upcoming holidays!
This is the time of year when students begin to think about where they will live next academic year (starting in August 2022). As you talk with your students, I’ll offer a bit of insight about college housing that I have gained in my ten years in this field.
The pandemic stole an important formative experience from many students. Living in community and learning alongside peers is an essential step in becoming a thriving adult. For these impacted students, on-campus housing is more valuable than ever before. Our halls are places where students can continue to learn, grow, develop, build relationships, and even make mistakes in a safe and supportive environment.
You might not know this, but UP makes campus housing available for any sophomore, junior, senior, or grad student who desires it. Most of our sophomores and many of our juniors and seniors return to campus housing each year; it’s what makes our halls special at UP! In addition to traditional double rooms, returning students can select to live in apartments, suites, and quads. Our housing options grow to fit their changing needs!
Here are just a few ways that living on campus can impact your student:
Academics – research links campus living with higher academic performance (better grades) and increased persistence and retention in college. Many of our halls even have study programs.
Connection – Students who live on campus often enjoy a stronger sense of community than their off-campus peers. Students in our residence halls often find friends for life!
Safety & Security – Campus Safety personnel monitor our residence halls 24 hours per day and quickly respond to any student concerns or emergencies. After using their cards to unlock a building, students are often greeted by a student worker whose job it is to monitor activity in our lobbies.
Support – Hall Directors, Pastoral Residents, and Resident Assistants live and work in our residence halls offering support and care and overseeing students’ well-being. They know your students by name and can support them in small and big ways!
Access – Campus residents live near the library, classroom buildings, and other campus resources. This makes it easier to attend classes, interact with faculty, meet with advisors, study and do projects with peers, use academic support services, and attend programs and events. It makes attending an evening event easier during our wet and cold winters.
Dining – Students living off-campus often do not have a realistic expectation of how much time grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning up takes. Residential students have meal plans which gives them easy access to a hot meal or a quick lunch.
Ease – Campus housing includes all utilities including Wi-Fi, garbage services and laundry rooms. Our communal spaces are professionally cleaned by our custodial staff each day. Our maintenance staff can quickly respond to and resolve any facilities concerns, unlike many of the private landlords in the area.
Summer housing – We also offer flexible summer housing that is charged by the week. This is a great option for interns, student teachers, nurses with clinical experiences, and more.
Moving off campus is a big decision, and before your student considers it, I’d like to take an opportunity to share some frustrations that we hear from students in non-university housing:
Many local landlords pressure our students to sign 12 month leases now that won’t even start until the summer. A feeling of panic ensues…students are told that off-campus apartments are scarce and they fear that if they wait, then all the good options will be gone, and they sign a less than perfect lease agreement with a group that is scrambled together. A lot can change in a student’s life during this waiting period (friend groups, jobs/internships, or even study abroad etc.). Students often call us in May looking for support with unusual housing requests, but they are “locked-in” by a hasty decision made months prior.
Additionally, we frequently see students navigating complex off-campus situations involving maintenance issues, tensions with non-student neighbors, and, often-times, tensions with housemates. Frustrations about who paid the cable bill, and whose long showers keep spiking the heating bill can fracture friend groups without the support to have those conversations in fair and safe ways. We often can’t help much in these situations because students are renting from private landlords who are not affiliated with UP.
We would love to welcome back your student to our halls next year. The University will have space available for your student. Our Fall 2022 campus housing application goes live next Tuesday (November 23rd) and we will make sure your student receives an email with details. I am also available and happy to chat with you or your student anytime.
Take care and have a good Thanksgiving,
-Andrew
Andrew Weingarten
Director of Residence Life