Administration News

BREAKING: Freshmen housing requirement ‘not dead’

IMG_6688-Justin-Tijerina

SGA President Charles Haston delivers a passionate speech urging senators to stand up and not accept mediocrity when it comes to driving UH policy. He introduced a resolution reaffirming SGA’s support of the administration in their Tier One initiatives, to be voted on next week. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar

The Student Government Association held a special session on Tuesday, Aug. 26 in the SGA Senate Chambers that responded to the failed proposal that would have made it mandatory for first time in college freshmen to live on campus, which was opposed by UH alum and state senator John Whitmire

Undergraduate Committee Chair of the Faculty Senate Martha Dunkelberger

Undergraduate Committee Chair of the Faculty Senate Martha Dunkelberger spoke to the senate at the request of the SGA administration. | Justin Tijerina/The Cougar

“The understanding that I have is that while (the initiative) is no longer being publicly discussed publicly, (the initiative) is not dead,” said Martha Dunkelberger, CLASS Assistant Clinical Professor and Chair of the Undergraduate Committee of the Faculty Senate. “It is in discussion, along the lines of  ‘we need to be patient,’ and we need to follow some rules and follow some protocols to see how things are going to move along so we can get back into a working relationship with the senator and get things moving along.”

According to the original plan, waivers to appeal the mandatory housing would be available to freshmen that demonstrated financial difficulty, medical or ADA need or have a reason that deems it counterproductive for them to live on campus. The requirement would not apply to students who live with a parent or legal guardian within 20 miles of campus or to students who are married or have a child.

SGA created a resolution stating they fully support the UH administration and Board of Regents’ initiatives to become a Tier One campus and to improve retention and graduation rates while increasing student life and success. The resolution states that residential life is crucial to the student life experience and increases retention rates as well as graduation rates.

“We’re not a commuter school,” SGA President Charles Haston said. “We’re going to continue pushing forward in the way we have the last six years, and that somehow what we have done over the last six years is enough, that we should just stop here, doesn’t resonate with me.”

The resolution was tabled to committee and is expected to be voted on during the next senate meeting on Sept. 3. The meeting will be held in the SGA Senate Chambers in the University Center North building.

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29 Comments

  • Happy to her the students are pressing forward with this and the initiative is NOT dead. My son loves living on campus and we are thrilled with the positive initiatives happening at UH. I thought Sen. Whitmire was very unprofessional in the way he handled expressing his opinion about the matter.

  • I don’t remember which article he said it but Senator Whitmire stated that the SGA did not represent the student body, this coming from a man who only got ~57,000 votes in a district of close to 800,000 people (560,00 18+). The SGA is as legitimate of a representative of the students as Senator Whitmire is of his district. The current SGA Administration still has my vote, Senator Whitmire has lost mine.

  • When I first entered the University of Houston, I lived in one of the Male’s dormitories. At that time, there was no requirement that Freshmen live on campus. The time spent in the dorms was one of the most memorable times at U of H. I was an incoming Freshman in 1953, a veteran, aged 22. I later moved off campus. I graduated in 1956.

    Andy Anderson
    Carthage, Texas

  • It is absolutely ridiculous to dictate peoples lives. If someone doesn’t want to live on campus, they shouldn’t have to. I was a first generation, first time in college student my freshman year, and I had a 45 minute commute to and from every day and I LOVED it. Would NEVER have lived on campus. The dorms are so confined with so many people, they gross me out. I hope this never becomes a reality because I would’ve loved for my children and theirs to come to this university, but I will never have them living on campus. But apparently you have to be a young parent to get out of it if this gets through. Simply not WANTING to live on campus should be more than enough reason to “waive” the “requirement” because living on campus is not necessary to learn. In fact, during my commute I go over lectures in my head, by myself, in a quiet space. That helps me retain more than a noisy, crowded dorm ever could.

    • I see you gave yourself a thumbs up. Uhm, you do realize that it’s only the freshman year, don’t you? Students living as far away as you did have many options to commute to other campuses for their freshman year and then transfer over to UH main campus. So, your kids can have the majority of their college life at your alma mater and never have to live on campus. But, then, that’s not really going to satisfy someone like you, is it?

    • So how can you speak about something you have never experienced? Like CoogPaw pointed out it IS only for the freshman year, not the rest of the time pursuing their education. And as far as dictating people lives, how about all the other TX Universities that have that requirement? I think some parity is long overdue. There are many institutions around the metro area where a student taking freshman level course can live at home and then transfer to UH to continue their studies.

      • So you don’t care about the freedom of freshman choosing where to live AND you don’t care about incoming freshman. How inconsiderate of you.

        • I support UH improvement initiatives including the requirement to live on campus during freshman year. Studies have shown this positively impacts retention of students, most notably with the increased GPA. UH had been criticized for retention rates, now they are being criticized for doing something to improve them. As I pointed out before, freshman have many choices in the greater Houston area to obtain their basic level courses at a lower cost and then transfer to UH to finish pursuing their degree.

    • Wow. Just great to hear a student selfishly commute via a single occupancy vehicle (adding unnecessary pollution and congestion to the region), never learning how to make do with living in smaller spaces, and not appreciating and discovering many students from very diverse backgrounds. /s

      If you or your children don’t want to live on campus in freshman year, that’s fine. They have options: attending a neighboring institution for a few classes and transferring to UH, live within a 20 mile radius of UH, attend other universities, etc.

      Also if you actually lived at a dorm, you would know they are not “noisy” and “crowded”. Hardly that, regardless which place you’re referring to. If your suitemates/roommates are significantly noisy, you ‘communicate’ to them. If that doesn’t work, a complaint to housing will get if fixed. I can often have an entire hallway, elevator, staircase, community kitchen, laundry room, etc. to myself. I’ve lived at 4 different places at UH and I have never felt it was too noisy or crowded. I have never about that complaint from anyone living on campus so I question how true your statements are.

    • Also, going over lectures in your head while your driving might have worked for you (assuming you didn’t get into accidents) but distracted driving has killed way too many people. Distracted driving often, though not only, comes from younger ages that feel they can multitask when driving but really can’t. When I commuted by bus (taking advantage of the many nice express buses at many Park & Ride stations in the Houston area), I could concentrate on studying before class, going over lectures on the way home, read a book, browse the web on my smartphone, etc. I can do all this without recklessly endangering other peoples’ lives.

  • Since when are we not a commuter school?? I don’t have exact stats but I’m pretty sure more then 50% students commute to campus.

    • What exactly do you define as a “commuter” school? I guess it would be a school that offers no housing on campus at all. I am pretty sure that just about every school has more students living off campus than on.

      • If you actually read carefully, he already defined what a commuter school is, unlike your far away definition. From the other comments you’ve made, you essentially don’t care about letting incoming freshman have the freedom to choose where to live since it only pertains to them and not the other years. How will the financially unstable live on campus. Financial Aid office can barely handle the demands now, and individually going through each appeal against freshman housing would cripple them and the likelihood of the appeal being approved would be slim… Therefore, loss of incoming freshman.

        • If financial consideration is that big a portion of the decision where to attend their freshman year, there are other institutions located all over the greater Houston area that offer the freshman level courses that have a lower tuition cost which would be a sensible choice. In addition, it would lessen the transportation costs to tstudy on the UH main campus. Once the freshman courses are obtained, the student who did not want to live on campus for any number of reasons could transfer to UH to finish the pursuit of their degree.

  • I am currently in my 4th year living on campus, and I have loved the experience.
    But this is an experience I choose, and the choices I made are what made the experience so valuable. Don’t force this experience on to people that don’t want it, it will just cause blow-back (Physics: for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction). Let the people choose if they want to live on campus, or if they’d prefer to commute!

    • No one is stopping them from living off campus for 3/4 (or more) of their time as a student.

      • So you don’t care if a student is in greater debt there first year of college life, and the “3/4 or more” of their college life hating this school because of the debt the institution has forced them into. Not everyone has a parental unit that can help support them or amazing pay/work hours to pay for themselves… How inconsiderate of you.

        • No they are welcome to attend any school they choose as a freshman that does not have the live on campus requirement and then transfer to UH to complete their degree. I believe the tuition cost is less than UH at many institutions in the greater metro area (likely lessening their commute and therefore transportation costs also, if my memory serves me correctly as this was discussed when we were looking at educational choices for my son. My husband lived at home his freshman year and then transferred to the Texas public university of his choice and lived off campus after his freshman year, primarily for financial reasons. Guess what? His degree had the same logo as those who lived on that campus their freshman year.

          • What if a student wants to attend the university all four years without having to go through the troubles of transferring credits? Because one of the issues of transferring from a community college is that not all credits are accepted. Yeah future students can choose other colleges if they don’t want to live on campus, but it takes away from choosing what they want just because of a silly requirement.

        • Nobody cares if you think a person’s opinion is considerate or not.

          Besides, if it was a purely financial savings issue then a truly smart commuter and their family doesn’t need to pay UH for a full course load of gen-ed courses. That’s just plain foolish. They should instead attend community college and save thousands of dollars while living at home.

          Since the university is only talking about freshmen here, I think it’s safe to say none of them will be receiving a degree during their first 30 hours credit. This is about better retention rates for college ready students and better graduation rates, period. UH needs better graduation rates, not more full-time, part time students.

  • I’ve been a commuter since freshman year and the only benefit of living on campus is that once you step out of the building, you’re on campus. For some, that’s heavenly, but that’s the thing not everyone likes that, which is why the choice of living on campus as a freshman should be open. I love to cook, I love not worrying about if someone/roommate will steal my stuff from the lounge or room, I love not having to deal with inconsiderate freshman during finals (which I have dealt with), and I love the financial freedom behind the choice of living off campus.
    I have friends that go to this school, and I will also be graduating within 4 years. It’s not like I’m lacking in the college experience, so the only aspect that makes the successful student is if there is the drive to make a successful student from both the school and individual. At this point, the only drives that this school is pushing for are football, be better than UT, and mandatory freshman housing for the sake of “retention”. This then neglects the others years because there would only be a few spots left for them to live on campus, who are the ones that ACTUALLY want to live on campus.

  • If financials are your #1 priority you shouldn’t be going to a University in the first place.

    There is ZERO financial reason to pay $300/ch vs $100/ch or less for state wide common core classes

    15ch at UH = $5652

    15ch at HCC = $1014

  • I do think it is beneficial to live on-campus or very close to campus in the early years of college. It is a better experience for students than living at home. So, I think it is good that this is being pursued.

    Yet, I wish SGA would pursue Better Parking and more Parking Passes at the garages, because there is no parking what-so-ever during rush hours, even in the garages. Even with all of the new facilities and parking options, it is STILL DIFFICULT to get parking. So, looks like we need even more garages to accomodate all of the student body.

  • Reason #1 why freshman don’t want to live on campus: It is a dangerous area to live in. FIX THAT FIRST.

  • Also, perhaps “studies have shown” it helps. But who is asking the students? Seems to be no one. I lived on campus my first 3 years – biggest mistake of my life. It actually put my life in danger. I almost died thanks to living on campus. If I had been allowed to leave, then I would have been a lot safer. I prefer being able to choose my living situation and my roommates. I also like my own personal space. I don’t want to have to live with the boyfriend of a roommate. It’s irritating. No one should be able to dictate where someone lives. It just isn’t fair.

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