The student housing recommendations at the university have been updated, with the expectation that most first-year, full-time students live on campus unless they meet specific criteria that allow them to be exempt from the recommendations.

As the University of Arizona enters a new era of student success, it has adopted this expectation along with a new Early Action admission process. The process includes a deadline-driven admissions model allowing Early Action applicants to have their applications processed first, followed by the Regular Decision timeline applicants.

The Daily Wildcat spoke with UA Vice President of Student Affairs Amanda Kraus, and she mentioned that she supports the new recommendations.

“I’m someone who has spent my entire career in student affairs,” Kraus said, “We have data that supports it here, but also it is sort of an evergreen strategy […] across the country, […] students who live on campus end up doing better.”

According to the university press release, “Since 1988, first-year students living on campus have averaged 81% first-to-second-year retention, compared to 73% for those living off campus, according to University Analytics and Institutional Research data. In addition, students who live on campus for at least one year have a 50% higher four-year graduation rate than those who never live on campus.”

UA staff are firm that the decision to implement the recommendations is for the betterment of students’ experiences at the university and to ensure the highest rates of success.

However, the school will still indirectly benefit monetarily.

“The more students who live on campus, the more students who, I guess, I should say are on campus are obviously going to eat on campus and shop on campus. So […] there are the residual effects of that, but […] the motivation for this was not financial and I know that and I believe that,” Kraus said.

Though the data shows clearly the benefits campus living has to offer, students have mixed feelings about the enforcement of new expectations.

Rain Bousquet, a UA student studying creative writing, shared with the Daily Wildcat that the expectations are restrictive for many students who don’t have the option to live on campus.

“I am from Tucson. I was born and raised here. I’ve always lived here and I wanted to live with my parents because it’s just financially more feasible. […] I also had a special circumstance that halfway through the first, my very first semester here, I became a medical caretaker for a family member in my house. […] So there’s no feasible way in which I could have lived in the dorms,” Bousquet said.

Bousquet explained that they can see the benefits for some, as long as the ability for those who it is not possible for to have reasonable accommodations. The accommodations are, according to the UA’s webpage, that “the housing expectation applies to most first-time, full-time students, regardless of admission pathway, with exceptions for students living within 30 miles of campus or those who are facing specific circumstances or hardships.”

America Blackketter is a senior at the university studying urban planning. She lived on campus as a freshman and shared with the Daily Wildcat her complex feelings about living in the dorms and the cost of student living.

“I think location and price have a lot to do with it because I think I would have been a lot

happier in a smaller dorm in the middle of campus […] [that] was cheaper, because I felt like I

probably wouldn’t have been as dissatisfied with the honor dorm if it hadn’t been so expensive,”

Blackketter said. “[…] I was like, I’m using up all of my money that I saved in high school to pay for this and I’m not even like having that much fun.”

Blackketter emphasized the importance of student freedom to decide living choices.

“There is the data […] backing it up that students graduate more, they get better grades when they live on campus, but I do feel like [they’re] not letting students have that choice. The choice is really important to me. […] I feel like if I’m going to be spending my money, it should be my own choice,” Blackketter said.

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