Students at Slippery Rock University were able to begin the fall 2021 housing process on April 6, with the application open to all students interested in residing on campus next semester.
Justin Kleemook, associate director in Office of Residence Life, said that the process is the same as past years. Students will log onto their housing portal and fill out the application where they will indicate if they want to reside in traditional or residential suites.
There was confusion in regards to roommate selection early on in the process. Kleemook cleared up the confusion by saying, “Anyone can sign up: individuals, dual people, three groups of people.
“So whatever size you and your friends are, or just you by yourself, you can apply for housing.”
Students are reminded that they have access to the social media platform, My College Roomie, which is a networking platform where students create their own profile and get matches with other students that an algorithm detects as having similar interests.
“[My College Roomie] is set up to be kind of like a Facebook where you read a profile with your picture and your likes and dislikes,” Kleemook said. “Then the software runs it’s magical stuff behind the scenes and the algorithm figures out basic percentages on whom you might match the best with.”
He advises students to look beyond this percentage and to browse student profiles and the software itself. The benefit of using My College Roomie is that students are able to get to know possible roommates before making their decision, Kleemook said.
If students don’t find a match before a date, they will be auto-assigned with a software the university uses. This option has no specific algorithm to make the decision. Kleemook said to not count on being assigned a roommate as a negative as both My College Roomie and auto assign can have positive outcomes.
“We often tell our students to take a chance on someone you don’t know, because at least you have an opportunity to grow your network and social circle,” Kleemook said.
As the fall semester approaches, there is hope that the campus population will be back up to 80%. With the campus population increasing so drastically, they are preparing by using some floors used for quarantine and isolation.
Students can also expect changes to the visitation policy in the fall, which has been a complaint from many students on-campus this past year.
With the semester coming to a close, on-campus residents are preparing to move back home. The move-out will be contactless and touch-less, students will be given a paper that will list all of the things they must do before moving out. The final day for students to move out is May 1.
As Spring 2021 ends and students and staff prepare for the fall, there are plans in motion for a full and packed start. There is a focus on harboring a sense of community as two large groups of students come to campus for they first time.
Meg Nassif, a freshman residing at home, has some anxieties about residing at SRU for the first time as she enters her sophomore year. Those anxieties mainly revolve around navigating the campus, she said.
Being at home for her first year effected some of the things she was looking forward to. Nassif said she wanted her freshman experience to be in the dorms.
“Living in a dorm was like one of the things I was really looking forward to, so the fact that it didn’t happen was sad,” Nassif said. “[Things] will definitely be different, you know, having in person classes that we’ve all gotten used to with like, our flow and how we handle online classes.”
As SRU prepares for a more full campus for fall 2021, students can keep an eye on their housing portal and email for more updates from the university.
