24 percent granted 3rd-year off campus

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Author: Sam Byrne

 

In an effort to maintain a primarily residential campus, Residential Education and Housing Services (REHS) accepted 24 percent of current sophomores who applied to live off campus for the 2012-2013 academic year, according to Assistant Director of REHS Juls White. 

Out of 169 applicants from the class of 2014, REHS initially accepted 40 students. Since then, 25 more students have been accepted either off the waitlist or as a Greek exception. 

Last year REHS accepted 90 students, including Greek exceptions, out of 119 applicants, which is an acceptance rate of 75 percent compared to this year’s 24 percent acceptance rate. Even though the acceptance rate for rising juniors dropped this year, White explained that when enrolling at Occidental, students knew that the Board of Trustees enacted a mandatory three-year residency policy, which has since been revised to a two-year policy with an application process to live off-campus for third-year students. Due to this unanticipated change in the policy, White said the opportunity for juniors to live off campus is a privilege.

“Students knew coming in that they would live on campus for three years,” White said.

The Board of Trustees’ policy mandating that students live on campus for their first three years was created to promote a sense of community, which REHS plans to honor. 

“We want to make sure that the campus is residential . . . that’s what we’re going for,” White said. “We’ve made it clear that’s how we see the rhythm of the school going.”

REHS considered the 169 applicants based on how they would interact with the Eagle Rock and neighboring communities, while also maintaining a strong connection with the college.

“The main goal is that students are engaged on campus… We’re giving a higher weight to executives of clubs,” White said, citing the importance of leadership responsibility for juniors allowed to live off campus. REHS reviewed student’s disciplinary records in addition to their grade point averag

 “Conduct shows behavior…behavior shows maturity,” White said, adding that mature students will likely make for “good neighbors.”

 

Although REHS hopes to make the process as fair for the students and the larger community as possible, some students feel that their financial situation could benefit from living off campus, which is a factor that should be considered.

 

“The financial status of an individual should be a crucial portion of the selection process,” psychology major Oscar Flores (sophomore) argued. “I cannot afford to throw away 853 bucks a month on something I hate or disagree with, and this isn’t acceptable. If living on campus was just that awesome of an experience, maybe I would want to cough up the extra couple hundred dollars to live here and actually be okay with it. But to me it is just not worth it.”

 

REHS does not review a student’s financial status when decided whether or not the student should be accepted to live off campus.

 

“We’re trying to make it fair. Students are accepted if they fit the college’s goals,” White said, clarifying that accepted students were chosen based on their own merit as opposed to their family income.

 

Students living on campus currently pay a yearly fee ranging from $5,680 to $9,180, which causes some sophomores concern as less expensive rent can be found in Eagle Rock and neighboring towns.

 

Another issue that arose on the students’ behalf is the one-week period REHS allowed rising juniors to confirm whether they would live off campus the next year, a deadline that also separately applies to eleven students pulled up from the waitlist. 

 

“I need more than a week because now I have to find other approved people to live with,” biology major Morgan Winston (sophomore) said after REHS accepted her from the waitlist. “The majority of the initial group of friends I planned to live off campus with got denied and are still on the waiting list. A week isn’t enough to figure all this out.”

 

White understands that a week is not a long period to make the decision; however, she will ensure that if a student accepts the offer to live-off campus but then is unable to find a house before August, then that student will still have have access to on campus housing in the fall.

 

“They can come back and we will house them,” White said. 

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