Residence hall students discuss reasons for switching roommates
Transitioning to a new environment can be difficult for students, especially when that means living with three other people they’ve never met.
The Office of Residence Life tries to make that move easier by finding good matches for roommates.
Before choosing roommates and moving in, students are asked to take a survey online to measure compatibility. Students are then paired with peers to similar interests and study habits and have a two week waiting period after move-in to decide if it’s going to be a good fit.
Students also must fill out a roommate agreement and come up with rules and standards for their living environment.
“After those two weeks students can then decide if they want to make a switch,” Director of Residence Life Joan Schmidt said. “After that, they must contact their hall director or the director of another hall and see if there is an opening. If there is, the old contract between roommates must be canceled and the student looking to move must contact potential roommates on their own.”
Most of the time roommate issues are conduct issues regarding the rules of the contract. There are some cases that involve serious issues or students who are uncomfortable. These extreme situations can result in roommates, or suitemates, being asked to leave a room or residence hall.
Last year the amount of people in residence halls were down by 600 according to the Office of Residence Life. This year there are few open spots in residence halls. This can be difficult for hall directors and students when trying to fix a suitemate or roommate situation.
“We had a serious issue with one of our roommates,” Harrison Township freshman Hayley Ferris said. “After she moved out and we finally got things back in order, a couple of people were coming to see our vacant spot in the room. It was stressful on everyone because there aren’t a lot of spots where people can move in.”
Not only can switching roommates be stressful on the people involved, it can cause issues with others, school work and organizations. After finally getting settled after four weeks, no student wants to have to deal with extra stress of talking to random people to see if there is an available room.
“It’s a lot of stress to move out of a room and into another one,” Battle Creek freshman Destiny Nichols said. "I had to find potential roommates, talk to people, move my stuff and figure out how to study at the same time. It kind of puts everyone on edge too, because it’s hard to change environments when you just got used to it.”
For students to switch rooms, there is not a set time frame. It can happen at any point during the semester, depending on availability of rooms.
“When one of my suitemates moved out it was luckily a quick process,” Burton freshman Mackenzie Ford said. “It was hard to deal with at the time but after everything was finally said and done the room felt more comfortable and balanced. I think it’s really important for students to be able to find people they click with so they can focus better on the things that really matter.”
