On Campus Housing Requirements Raise Concerns Amongst the Student Body
With the spring semester coming to an end, the search for on-campus housing for next semester is already underway. Many students have selected their housing situation, however, there have been students that disagree with the South Dakota Board of Regents re-instillment of the two year on-campus housing requirement.
South Dakota Board of Regents mandates that students must live on campus the first two years of their college career with some exclusions. Exemptions that are approved to live off campus can include a student being married, having children residing with them, residing full-time with parent(s) or legal guardian(s), living in a greek house or if the residence hall occupancy is exceeded.
A petition was assembled by Daisy Williams in early March asking for signatures to give housing priority to returning students. As of right now, priority is given to incoming freshmen when it comes to the housing selection process. In accordance with the petition, the student believes that USD could be at risk of losing returning students who feel undervalued by the current system. As of March 25th, the petition has gotten 82 verified signatures.
Stella Hector, a current freshman at USD, received one of the earliest time slots for housing due to her class credit standing. She had hoped to secure Coyote Village due to it offering more space, privacy and convenience.
“Before committing to USD, I visited campus twice and was told that securing a spot in Coyote Village as a freshman was nearly impossible as the priority was given to upperclassmen and athletes,” Hector said. “However, it is clear that freshmen were given priority in Coyote Village, which significantly reduced housing availability for returning students.”
Hector added that if the university is going to require on-campus housing for two years, then they should have sufficient space and the prioritization of returning students to be ensured.
“I would fully support the two year on-campus housing requirement if returning students were given priority in the selection process,” Hector said.
Another student, Kennedi Johannsen, also agreed with it not being right that the university prioritizes freshmen when it comes to housing. However, she had already put a lease down on a house prior to getting denied from a housing exemption. Johannsen believes that an important issue with housing is space.
“Many of the halls had no rooms for more residents, so they had to turn the study rooms that many students use for studying into dorm rooms since they ran out of rooms,” Johannsen said.
With summer approaching, many students who currently live in the dorms move back home or find an alternate living plan. Anna McMahon was not able to lease a house for the upcoming year due to not getting exempt. However, she has a job in Vermillion which results in her needing to stay in Vermillion over the summer so she does not have to commute to her job.
“Finding jobs in a small college town is very difficult and many jobs only hire with the stipulation that you will also be available to work during the summer and into the following year,” McMahon said.
She added that the university says that a lease is not a valid reason to live off campus in the summer, however, many leasing offices do not like signing month-to-month leases.
In hindsight, there are numerous current freshmen that have strong beliefs towards the housing policy that the South Dakota Board of Regents implements for their college campuses.
