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Thanks for the context! Could you please explain to me as a European what's wrong with a student commuting to the university (if we put COVID aside, of course)?
by smarx007 6y ago
Thanks for the context! Could you please explain to me as a European what's wrong with a student commuting to the university (if we put COVID aside, of course)? In Europe, university accommodation is usually below the market rate and is hard to get and many students end up subletting a room in a regular apartment.
- jswrenn 6y ago(Again, this is a rather cynical take, but...) Brown's monopoly on undergraduate housing is an essential source of revenue. Brown generates twice the $/ft² in revenue as private landlords in the area, but pays only a fraction of their running costs (Brown pays no income tax on this revenue, nor property tax on its dorms). There's nothing wrong with students commuting, per se, but for a University that's come to rely on residency fees, ditching the residency requirement is no easy financial feat.
- jccalhoun 6y agoI have no idea what Brown's policy is but a lot of 4 year universities have requirements that out of town first year students live in the dormitory rather than renting an apartment. It you were already living in town then you are normally exempt. It sounds like Brown is a lot stricter than that though?
- maxerickson 6y agoCovid is the whole point. They don't want students to sign up for the remote option and then interact with the on campus students.
- jrockway 6y agoIt's not a US vs. Europe thing. I went to a school in the US where the vast majority of students commute. I think at the time, it was something like 700 people living on-campus vs. 30,000 living off-campus.