Roommates, The Rock Café and res­i­dence hall activ­i­ties are all great oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents liv­ing on cam­pus; how­ever, some may want the expe­ri­ence of liv­ing off cam­pus as an option.

After receiv­ing obser­va­tions and con­cerns that most other state uni­ver­si­ties do not have this same age require­ment, Director of Housing and Residence Life Jon L. Shaffer said this has pro­vided an oppor­tu­nity to review the hous­ing policy.

“We know stu­dents have many choices of where to go to school and we want to ensure we’re bal­anc­ing the right mix­ture of what we feel are impor­tant com­po­nents of the edu­ca­tional out­comes with what stu­dents desire in their col­lege expe­ri­ence,” Shaffer said.

Students must still be 20 to have the option of liv­ing off cam­pus; how­ever, for the 2012–13 aca­d­e­mic year, the birth­date thresh­old from hav­ing to be 20 by the first day of class (essen­tially Sept. 1, 1992) was changed to hav­ing to be 20 after the first semes­ter, specif­i­cally Jan. 1, 1993.

Changing this pol­icy gives a wider range of which stu­dents are eli­gi­ble to choose.

Kellie Tate, a junior in social work, said, “If par­ents are will­ing to pay for their child’s rent and util­i­ties each month and would pre­fer to do that instead of adding on more money in loans for a meal plan that is lim­ited and not such a perk to liv­ing in the dorms, then Ferris should not dic­tate what stu­dents are allowed to do over their parents.”

In watch­ing the num­ber of liv­ing assign­ment con­tracts com­ing in over the past month, Shaffer said they are see­ing a very sim­i­lar pat­tern to last year.

“I think this reflects that stu­dents under­stand liv­ing on cam­pus is an impor­tant part of the edu­ca­tional process and what we offer is hard to beat in the off-campus mar­ket,” Shaffer said.

This pol­icy has essen­tially been part of Ferris since the res­i­dence halls were built 50 years ago.

Emily Tiesenga, a sopho­more in graphic design, said, “Living in the dorms is a good expe­ri­ence for the first cou­ple years of col­lege because you meet new peo­ple, but hav­ing the chance to move off cam­pus would be nice because you get the chance to be a lit­tle more independent.”

“We’ve rec­og­nized the impor­tance of liv­ing on cam­pus in how it aug­ments inside the class­room learn­ing facil­i­tated by our great fac­ulty,” Shaffer said. “We will watch the effects of the changes closely, ana­lyz­ing what we feel is in the best inter­est of our stu­dents and bal­ance those off the result­ing impact on the uni­ver­sity as we con­sider future changes.”

On behalf of the hous­ing depart­ment, Shaffer said they are always open to con­sid­er­ing the appro­pri­ate pol­icy for stu­dents, which would imply that the birth­date could adjust in either direction.

Shaffer said it was of lit­tle sur­prise to see that the major­ity of those stu­dents now eli­gi­ble to move off cam­pus have cho­sen to remain on campus.

“I think it is a result of our abil­ity to cre­ate some great incen­tives for these stu­dents,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer said the over­all stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion rate has been at or above 90 per­cent for many years in a row.

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