Residential Education & Housing Services (REHS) sent an email Feb. 2 to the sophomore class sharing the Third-Year Live Off Application. The application, which closed Feb. 25, consisted of a Google form and the signing of a Community Relations Policy Agreement Statement.
According to Director of Residential Education Isaiah Thomas, the application is launched each year to exempt juniors from living on campus, as the college requires all students to live on campus for three years.
“For this year, as well as the previous year, only 30 rising juniors were permitted to live off-campus,” Thomas said via email. “For the past two years the number of applications has exceeded the 30 limit, which has been challenging for our students who really desire to live off-campus for their junior year.”
Thomas said the number of juniors approved for off-campus living each year is determined by the Division of Finance, Planning and Operations.
“Each year this division approves the number of juniors REHS is permitted to live off-campus, and a variety of factors can impact the number, such as the number of seniors requesting to live on campus, the total number of students studying abroad, and projected first-year, transfer, and sophomore students enrolled at Oxy,” Thomas said via email.
Maurice Romanyshyn (sophomore) said living off-campus and having more independence from the college appealed to him.
“I want an opportunity to have a space that belongs to me and a chance to live with my friends,” Romanyshyn said. “To have a space where we can have a backyard, play games outside, cook [our] own meals [and have] a community space.”
Aida Richey (sophomore) said she applied for off-campus housing after her frisbee teammates approached her to create a women’s Ultimate Frisbee team house. Richey said her whole group was approved to live off campus.
“[My friend and I] filled out the housing application literally two minutes after it dropped,” Richey said. “It was definitely easier to coordinate a group of people and be organized together, because we [are] all on the frisbee team together […] In terms of the actual REHS application, I honestly think the determining factor was that all of us filled it out immediately.”
Thomas and the email sent by REHS said applications would be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. Romanyshyn said he and his entire housing group received approval from REHS to live off campus next year after applying right when applications opened.
Susanna Kelly (sophomore) said she has been looking forward to the opportunity of off-campus housing since her first year at Occidental. She said being on campus constantly has created stress on top of pursuing a biology and chemistry major and other on-campus commitments.
“It just got to the point where I don’t like coming back to campus, and a big part of that is my living situation, so how can I cut out my stress?” Kelly said.
Jojo McCabe (sophomore) said they applied for off-campus housing to create a place to relax outside of the business of a college campus. McCabe said they filled out the online application within a week of the initial email from REHS.
“The bubble was starting to get to me,” McCabe said. “There [are] some great things about being such a small school, and I don’t feel like I can really appreciate all of those aspects when living on campus. It’s very overwhelming to constantly be seeing everybody you know.”
According to Kelly, she filled out the off-campus housing application within three days of its release. Kelly said she received an email from REHS after spring break, which denied her off-campus living for the next school year. Kelly said she has been unable to schedule a meeting with REHS despite her multiple pursuits.
“I found [REHS] very hard to communicate with,” Kelly said. “I think that kind of factored into all of this being so unclear.”
REHS sent out a reminder email Feb. 25 at noon that the application was due that afternoon at 4 p.m.
According to McCabe, they were not expecting the spots for junior off-campus housing to be so competitive. McCabe said the application seemed simple, and they were not worried about appealing as a candidate.
“I don’t have any conduct charges, I have an accommodation to live in a single and I do a lot of stuff on campus,” McCabe said.
McCabe said the application and denial process was confusing overall because REHS did not define the standards for a ‘good’ application.
“I don’t know what they’re looking for in terms of who is allowed to live off campus before senior year,” McCabe said. “I wish they made that clearer because I’m filling [the application] out to the best of my ability, answering it all truthfully […] They also didn’t give a reason for why my application was denied.”
Contact Lucinda Toft at ltoft@oxy.edu
