‘Life After the Dorms’ provides smooth transition to living off campus
Illustration by: Will Madison
The residence halls often provide students with fond memories and new social experiences. But to many, the freedom of off campus housing is attractive.
“There is a lot of oversight, the resident assistants are constantly hovering right above your shoulder,” said first year Connor Nicoski.
Life After the Dorms, an event set for Nov. 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Kirby tabling area, aims to make the transition smoother.
Pavel Arkhipenkov, the vice president of external affairs at UMD’s Student Association, wants students to become aware of the challenges off campus housing entails.
Lawerence A. Ianni Hall. Photo courtesy of Connor Shea
“Freshmen might need encouragement to get familiar with community laws and the lifestyle of not living on campus,” Arkhipenkov said.
Put on by the UMD Student Association and Laura Young, an office manager in the Kirby Student Center, Life After the Dorms hopes to help prepare students for off campus living.
“Freshmen need to have the resources to become good citizens of the community so they’ll know how to handle themselves and follow various city ordinances,” Young said. “I want them to take away useful information about services in our community.”
Many community businesses and organizations will be taking part, including landlords and management companies such as Summit Management.
“Landlords will be promoting properties to students interested in signing leases, police officers will be talking about issues such as front yard parking and city utility entities will explain how billing and usage affects students that are new to paying bills,” Arkhipenkov said.
Students will also be given an opportunity to come and ask questions about off campus living.
Carver Ave. is lined by various student rental properties mixed with residential homeowners. Photo courtesy of Conor Shea
“We want it to be an environment where students can comfortably approach community sources and ask questions,” Young said.
Junior Jacob Fulton said he wishes he would have been better informed about how to make the transition from the dorms to off campus housing.
“For me a tough part was figuring out housing availability,” Fulton said. “Another tough thing to get used to was paying for rent, bills, deposits. The school really took care of all those worries in your housing costs.”