Students walk into Walsh Hall. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

A new policy requiring first-year UND students to live in campus residence halls for a full academic year will begin next fall semester.

According to the policy, first-year students are defined as those who enroll full-time at UND within one year of their high school graduation or equivalent.” First-year students also have “less than 24 transferable, post-secondary, semester credit hours.”

However, some students may qualify for exemptions.

The policy states students are exempt if they live with a parent or guardian who lives within 35 miles of UND, are enrolled part-time, are married or have dependents, are at least 20 years old before the start of the semester or if they have financial, medical or personal hardship.

“Exemptions will go to Troy,” said Executive Director of Housing and Dining Connie Frazier, referring to Associate Director of Housing Troy Noeldner. “He decides if someone is exempt initially. If it is a gray area and the person is denied, they can appeal to a committee.”

Frazier pointed out that many other campuses have this policy, including most other NDUS campuses.

“We might be one of the last places,” she said.

The idea for the policy is something that has come up before, she said. After enough push from administrators and statistics to back it up, the policy is finally being enacted.

“Students tend to have higher GPAs, tend to graduate more quickly and tend to participate in more school activities,” Frazier said about students who live on campus versus off campus. “It’s true here.”

While word about the policy hasn’t spread far around campus, which may be due to the policy not affecting current students, specific organizations are aware of it.

“ARH has been very supportive,” Frazier said.

President of the Association of Residence Halls Shane Herman sees the policy as having several benefits.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for involvement in say, Student Government or ARH,” he said. “The debt load after they graduate is a little less, as well.”

According to Frazier, the timing of the policy doesn’t have to do with the new apartment complexes opening up close to campus. Considering most students live in the dorms their first year and the number of exemptions, Frazier said she doesn’t “expect it to be a huge numbers difference” from this year to next year.

Reactions

Frazier said reactions have been good so far, with only one person calling the Housing Office about the policy, and who was a local person who wasn’t aware of the exemption.

“It’s early, and that may change, but so far so good,” Frazier said.

“I think it’s a good idea,” junior Corbin Gyswyt said. “That’s where everyone meets people.”

Gyswyt said she only had one other person from her high school come to UND, so living in the dorms was helpful for her.

“The dorms were a good start to meet people,” she said.

“I don’t see why they’d do it,” said senior Erik Berg, who lived in the dorms for his first semester at UND.

While his experience at the dorms wasn’t bad, he cited the cost and living with people you don’t want to live with as problems.

“These are adults. They should be allowed to make up their own minds,” he said.

The full version of the policy can be viewed online at http://bit.ly/1zKSxs7.

Jamie Hutchinson is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].