The university’s policy on freshmen housing and meal plans will change as of the fall semester of 2008. Entering freshmen will be required to live in on-campus housing and buy meal plans. MSU administrators decided to change the policy because they believe the change will increase the quality of life of freshmen students, vice president of student affairs Bill Kibler said.
There will be a few exceptions to the policy. Married freshmen and local residents in the Starkville area will have a choice because of personal and financial reasons. Additionally, entering freshmen that served in the military before coming to college will have a choice because of the age differences.
“Years of research show that the quality of life of students is enhanced if the student lives on campus,” Kibler said.
He said the reason is because students will have a chance to get fully integrated with the campus and university.
Kibler proposed the idea to MSU administrators and President Robert “Doc” Foglesong gave the final approval in the fall. The administration wanted plenty of time for prospective students to get the information so they decided to wait until the fall of 2008 to implement their decision.
Many universities around the country and in Mississippi, including the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi, require entering freshmen to live on campus.
However, the fact that MSU has that option may affect prospective students’ decisions to attend MSU.
“The reason I chose to attend Mississippi State University over Ole Miss is because I had the choice of living on or off campus,” said Leann Kelly, freshman Spanish major. “I think students have the opportunity to be social but they shouldn’t be forced to.”
“Studies show that students who live on campus generally make better grades, become more involved in campus activities, are more likely to have a positive college experience, and graduate than those who live off campus,” according to a statement on the MSU Web site.
In addition to these attributes, living in a residence hall gives students, especially freshmen, the opportunity to meet people to share similar experiences such as the late night study session and how to write that all-important English composition research paper. A residence hall can give students a supportive environment for learning as well as a social circle that can last a lifetime.
The policy change will have a small effect on entering freshmen because currently over 90 percent of MSU freshmen live on campus.
The expansion in housing facilitiesand the renovation of Colvard Union in the fall of 2007 will fulfill the needs living on campus and appeal to incoming freshmen. The completion of new residence halls and renovation of others will provide enough rooms for freshmen wanting single or double occupancy rooms for fall 2008.
Kibler said that the administration did not make its decision based on this fact. However, they felt better knowing the quality of campus housing living created the conditions to make this a good decision.
The addition of more enrolled freshmen in residence halls will fill the vacancies that now exist. Many students received single occupancy rooms in the fall of 2006 when they reserved a double occupancy because the number of rooms increased beyond the number of students living in them.
Also, the completion of the Colvard Student Union in fall 2007 will provide dining and convenience so students will not have to leave campus as often. Entering freshmen have many meal plans to choose from so they will not having to worry about money for food or malnutrition. With the addition of flex dollars in some meal plans students can eat off or on campus.