4 ms·

Why would you make your housing or social life, or indeed your weird edgy experiences of whatever kind, dependent on the same institution teaching your classes?

Why would you make your housing or social life, or indeed your weird edgy experiences of whatever kind, dependent on the same institution teaching your classes? That's the actual root cause. And I understand that some of these institutions require living on campus, at least in the first years, which is absolutely insane.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago
Because most of the people who are going to college are getting there via life paths that will not have had them on the wrong side of big bureaucratic institutions very much so they don't see the danger.
hemloc_io 4y ago
I had another comment about university involvement in student life higher up, but I wanted to address the residency thing specifically. Lots of these colleges require students living on campus for money for inflated rent, b/c students rent money can come from student loans (It's guaranteed income.). Same with mandatory dining plans. My college particularly hated cheaper dining options that opened up around there and used the local govt to try and shut them down, b/c it made the rent for commercial properties less desirable and made students switch off the uni plan lol. Sometimes they even engage in mutually beneficial arrangements with development companies like American Campus which will build a building, that the college then forces students to live in! Since the Uni owns the land that building is on it is tax advantaged. Rent money goes to American Campus so they build the building for cheap since it's guaranteed income. I believe they even give the building over to the college after X years. This was standard in all the colleges in that area btw, no escaping it.
closeparen 4y ago
The thing you are getting at Stanford, or any place like it, is immersion in the campus community. If you want to view it as a transaction where you pay for access to lectures and someone to grade your work, then yes, a lot of things about it are going to seem dumb. Community colleges and commuter branches of state university systems serve those needs better.
- savingsPossible 4y ago
  Well, if that is a relevant gain, perhaps it need not be forced?
toast0 4y ago
It's a good question. I think student housing is common because university takes up a lot of time and it's convenient to live on campus. One often goes to university away from where they were previously living, and often plans to live somewhere else afterwards, so it's easier to join a community of transients, than to transiently enter a community apart from the university. While there are certainly some issues with lack of outside perspective, living with a community of your peers that are relatively well aligned in daily activities can be a really positive vibe. Of course, it can also be a negative vibe if you're feeling out of sync with the rest of the community and it feels like the rest of the community is in sync. I transferred to a small engineering school to get my BS, and it was easy to meet people and share common interests and experiences in a way that wasn't possible when I went to a larger, non specific school, without residences and where people had vastly different courses. I think a lot of schools force (or at least strongly push) for on-campus living during the first years because it makes it easier to build a network of relationships that will hopefully help students navigate the institution. You're not going to spend nearly as much time with as many other students if you're living off campus and only commuting in on days you have classes.
asdff 4y ago
Another thing is you can't do things with another student org thats on campus with an off campus student org, so if you try partying with a sorority they could be sanctioned too. You can't advertise or recruit around campus because that's unauthorized. Can't post flyers in the dorm elevators, the RAs will rip it down. Can't rent classrooms out for recruitment events or participate in anything at the beginning of the year when students learn of these things. Universities typically make it easy to kick you out of the school if something goes wrong at an unregistered org event and make sure you are fully legally liable. Something going wrong could just be a freshman stumbling back a little drunk and getting in trouble with an RA, doesn't have to be a serious thing to ruin your life.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago

Because most of the people who are going to college are getting there via life paths that will not have had them on the wrong side of big bureaucratic institutions very much so they don't see the danger.

hemloc_io 4y ago

I had another comment about university involvement in student life higher up, but I wanted to address the residency thing specifically. Lots of these colleges require students living on campus for money for inflated rent, b/c students rent money can come from student loans (It's guaranteed income.). Same with mandatory dining plans. My college particularly hated cheaper dining options that opened up around there and used the local govt to try and shut them down, b/c it made the rent for commercial properties less desirable and made students switch off the uni plan lol. Sometimes they even engage in mutually beneficial arrangements with development companies like American Campus which will build a building, that the college then forces students to live in! Since the Uni owns the land that building is on it is tax advantaged. Rent money goes to American Campus so they build the building for cheap since it's guaranteed income. I believe they even give the building over to the college after X years. This was standard in all the colleges in that area btw, no escaping it.

closeparen 4y ago

The thing you are getting at Stanford, or any place like it, is immersion in the campus community. If you want to view it as a transaction where you pay for access to lectures and someone to grade your work, then yes, a lot of things about it are going to seem dumb. Community colleges and commuter branches of state university systems serve those needs better.

savingsPossible 4y ago
Well, if that is a relevant gain, perhaps it need not be forced?

toast0 4y ago

It's a good question. I think student housing is common because university takes up a lot of time and it's convenient to live on campus. One often goes to university away from where they were previously living, and often plans to live somewhere else afterwards, so it's easier to join a community of transients, than to transiently enter a community apart from the university. While there are certainly some issues with lack of outside perspective, living with a community of your peers that are relatively well aligned in daily activities can be a really positive vibe. Of course, it can also be a negative vibe if you're feeling out of sync with the rest of the community and it feels like the rest of the community is in sync. I transferred to a small engineering school to get my BS, and it was easy to meet people and share common interests and experiences in a way that wasn't possible when I went to a larger, non specific school, without residences and where people had vastly different courses. I think a lot of schools force (or at least strongly push) for on-campus living during the first years because it makes it easier to build a network of relationships that will hopefully help students navigate the institution. You're not going to spend nearly as much time with as many other students if you're living off campus and only commuting in on days you have classes.

asdff 4y ago

Another thing is you can't do things with another student org thats on campus with an off campus student org, so if you try partying with a sorority they could be sanctioned too. You can't advertise or recruit around campus because that's unauthorized. Can't post flyers in the dorm elevators, the RAs will rip it down. Can't rent classrooms out for recruitment events or participate in anything at the beginning of the year when students learn of these things. Universities typically make it easy to kick you out of the school if something goes wrong at an unregistered org event and make sure you are fully legally liable. Something going wrong could just be a freshman stumbling back a little drunk and getting in trouble with an RA, doesn't have to be a serious thing to ruin your life.