The F1 data for freshman from the common data set is pretty reliable.
If one third or more of frosh do not live in university housing, that’s commuter school territory.
The number for all undergrads will vary more on how much dorm space there is.
One of my kid’s schools is 99% frosh living in university housing and 45% of all undergrads. That’s a residential college where kids move off campus for junior year. My other kid’s school is 95/29%. Residential college where kids move off campus after one year.
@londondad , Miami would be wonderful but I am pretty sure it is out of reach. Even if by some miracle he got in, it would probably be too rigorous for him to keep his head above water. We know a sophomore there and while she loves the school, she has said it is very challenging.
UNF is tricky. 100% of freshman live on campus because it is required. No exceptions (maybe for medical reasons). My friend lived less than 3 miles away and they would not let her sons live at home (so they didn’t go there). Many students from the area do go home on weekends, but maybe just to do laundry and have a meal, not necessarily for the whole weekend.
We know a lot of kids at FAU. They live in dorms. Know some at USF too. Also dorms. Some of the communities surrounding these schools are pretty expensive (Tampa, Boca) and it is just cheaper to keep living in dorms. My daughter’s college community, Melbourne, is much cheaper so she rents a house.
Almost all big flagships only guarantee dorms to freshmen, and the upperclassmen live in Greek housing, neighboring areas to the school, buy condos or rent apartments. Look at FSU and I think you’ll find about 25% of students (mostly freshmen) live in campus housing. Not a commuter school at all.
That seems to be the strictest frosh dorm requirement at a public university (no exemption for being nearby or living with relatives), and not very common. Other public universities with frosh dorm requirements tend to have exemptions for those who are from the nearby area and various classes of non-traditional students (married, parent, older, veteran, etc.).
They are correct that frosh living in the dorms tend to have better retention and graduation rates, but since living in the dorms generally costs more than continuing to live with parents nearby, those nearby students who are on the edge of financial affordability may have worse retention and graduation rates if forced to spend money living in the dorms when they do not otherwise need to.
btw- be wary of what you read in the fine print rules/university policies versus actual practices. I believe my U had some obscure requirements on the books but they were never enforced- over a span of many decades.
Hi.
I am replying because I have a son at Appalachian and live in Wilmington. Both schools have plenty of students around on most weekends. On long weekends things will empty out some since most students’ homes are within a few hours drive.
Although in state my son is 6 hours drive from home and comes home rarely. I am sometimes frustrated by the break schedule. For instance they will have the Monday and Tuesday after Easter as a mini-break. This is about a month after the traditional week-long spring break and 3 weeks before finals. It’s a lot of driving for a short time that doesn’t correspond with the rest of the family’s holiday of the Friday before Easter. Last year my son chose to stay but they closed all dining halls. He lives in the dorm and doesn’t have a car at school so his meals were very limited.
UNCW and Appalachian have similarities. About the same size. Master level universities. In beautiful but very different locations. My son’s educational experience has exceeded our expectations. His classes have been small. He is in the honors college and gets nice extra attention. Emphasis is on undergraduates.
UNCW has a great marine biology department. Be aware that job options are challenging in marine biology. I work in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and we hire a LOT of marine science majors that cannot find jobs in marine biology.
Wilmington has great golf and fishing. He would need a car to do either. Very little is within walking distance of the campus and public transportation is limited.
@multiplemom, thank you for giving such thoughtful advice about both UNCW and App State. Ironically, those are the only 2 schools on his list that we currently have tours scheduled for. The rest we are going to try and fit in sporadically over the next several months.
We are really looking forward to visiting the 2 schools and know they will both appeal to S18 in different ways. I have heard that both Boone and Wilmington are great towns.
While my son has expressed an interest in Marine Bio, he also knows that the career opportunities might be limited. That is why he is keeping an open mind in going in other directions. He bought 3 chickens almost 2 years ago and from building their coop, to feeding and cleaning their pen (and I must say here that chickens are disgusting), he has really enjoyed the whole process and has mentioned going into the Agricultural field as another possibility.
Good luck and enjoy your visits. When you visit Wilmington my word of advice is to try to separate the region’s obvious vacation appeal from the college student experience.