THE POLITICS OF ROOM DRAW

Many students see Room Draw as an important part in their upcoming year on campus, but they are not all satisfied with it.

Room Draw, the annual event for students planning to live on campus to select their dorm and roommates, is looming over student residents’ heads. This year room draw forms will be due Friday, March 5 for the Carrollton Hall apartments and Wednesday, March 17 for all other rooms.

The biggest deciding factor for where students will live on campus is the “point system.” A student’s GPA, current class standing, how many semesters they have lived on campus, their disciplinary record and involvement in Residence Hall Council or Residence Hall Association determine how many points the student has.

This system provides incentive for students to avoid breaking school rules and encourage them to participate in campus organizations, but some students feel like the point system recognizes very few organizations.

“I thought that being involved in the university would get you more points, but it’s only if you join RHA or Res Council,” said Christopher Backes, philosophy sophomore and Buddig Hall resident. “Being in major student organizations like SGA, LUCAP or The Maroon should be just as important.”

The Loyola University Web site lists room rates for on campus living ranging from $2,386 for Cabra Hall to $3,449 for a Carrollton Hall apartment, per semester, for the 2009-2010 academic year.

This creates a problem for students who plan on living off campus, but are unsure of the price and availability of housing around campus near the end of the summer.

“They’re trying to force people to live on campus before they can set up rent to live off of campus,” biology sophomore David Vumbaco, who lives in Carrollton Hall, said.

On or off campus, one of the most important things about the room draw process is deciding whom to live with. The qualities that make a good roommate differ from student to student, though.

“Living with someone is different than being friends with them,” said Buddig Hall resident assistant Alex Fournet, international business junior and editorial editor of The Maroon. “Make sure you know the person really well inside and out. If it turns out you can’t handle their living habits it could ruin your friendship and being roommates.”

“They should be considerate of how you live your life, but not overly considerate,” said Buddig Hall resident Sydney Barbier, psychology sophomore. “They shouldn’t be always asking, ‘Oh, is this okay with you?’ That makes you always feel guilty.”

“You should have similar living styles,” Backes said. “My roommate and I work out because neither of us whines about each other’s messes.”

For students who are still unsure about whom they will live with, Residential Life has set up room draw socials to be held Tuesday, March 9 from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. in the lobbies of all residence halls. There is also a group on Facebook titled “Room Draw 2010 – Free Agent Pool,” where students can meet other students looking for roommates.

Vumbaco said that he believes it is more important find someone whom you actually get along with instead of looking for someone with similar sleeping or working habits.

“Live with someone you want to live with, not with someone who ‘makes sense,’” Vumbaco said.

Backes offered a simpler strategy for finding a roommate in terms of who has the most points according to the point system.

“Make a list of potential roommate GPAs, in ascending order, and go for the guy at the top,” Backes said.



Sam Winstrom can be reached at sdwinstro@loyno.edu




 

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2 comments

Anonymous

Wed Mar 31 2010 12:06

$315 a month means feasting like a king every night? By my quick math that is about $10 a day. What king ever ate on $10 a day?

$10 will get you a bowl of cereal and a granola bar for breakfast (~$1), a sandwich for lunch (~$5), and for dinner you could 'feast' on a can of Chef-Boy-R-Dee and a soda (~$4). Maybe if you skip a meal hear and there you could find some wiggle room to buy a jar of multi-vitamins to balance out that diet. Have you every actually cooked healthy meals for yourself at home? Do you know the price of meat and vegetables at the supermarket? Don't forget, you have to buy your own dish soap and take the time to do dishes.

Anonymous

Fri Mar 5 2010 15:32

Did you know that, at least based on the single and double prices listed around this time last year on the Financial Aid site, Res Life makes a free thousand dollars a room in Beiver and Buddig when two people live in each room? Makes you wonder about how much they really care about the well-being of underclassmen.

The absolute cheapest meal plan that Loyola offers to students living on campus comes to 3,776. If you stay off campus for a full year, by comparison, that is a monthly food budget of $314.66 cents. For $315 a month, you can feast like a king every night.

Likewise, the cheapest livable room on campus, a double in Beiver, comes to $5754 for the school year. For that much for a full year, it averages at $479.50 in monthly rent. But if you only assume you're paying for the nine months you're actually allowed in the room (end of August to mid December, mid January to mid May), it actually comes out to a monthly rent of $639.33. You can rent a very, very nice apartment for that much, far better than the cramped, shared rooms you get on campus. For the rent on a suite room in Carrolton, you can practically have an entire house to yourself out in Lakeview.

Don't encourage Res Life in their racketeering. Get your money's worth.

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