<p>D1 was home this weekend and noted she was considering becoming an RA next year. I was a bit surprised, as she's not the outgoing sort, but is quite mature. Besides the obvious financial benefit (free/reduced room & meal plan) and single room, what are the other benefits and issues to consider. (I asked her if she's prepared to be holding a freshman's head while she throw up at 2am). </p>
<p>Also, what are the typical incentives RAs receive that you have seen at various schools? (100% free room & meal plan, free room/regular priced meal plan, etc)</p>
<p>Ok so my D could never be an RA because she loves her “downtime” too much. (Just the thought of knowing someone could knock on her door 24/7 would cause her to be restless) Now with that said, she claims she doesn’t know anyone on her wing that has ever needed the RAs assistance. I would also think that holding the head of a throwing up resident would qualify as above and beyond. Financially, you can’t beat the benefits and for that reason I sure which my kid would consider it!</p>
<p>Student chiming in -
I have many friends that are RAs an love being leaders of their dorms, finding it rewarding to guide others, etc but there are a few things to note -</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They get people knocking on their door late, a lot/random times - Not the whole holding their hair back situation, but more so of “my roommate is so annoying and won’t do this how do I fix it blahblah” - but I think that is usually more so if you are placed in a freshman dorm because upperclassmen usually don’t have those problems</p></li>
<li><p>The RAs at my school have to go back to school a week and a half early for training, aren’t allowed another job that exceeds 10 hours a week, obligated to work the front desk, have to return from winter break early, and have to stay at the end of the school year 3-4 extra days. They also rotate fall and spring break on who must stay. You may want to make sure her school isn’t similar with that and if they are,make sure she is aware of the commitment. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Yet, the 3000-4000 of free room costs off a semester is quite nice, but you still have to pay for your meal plan.</p>
<p>As a plus - I know a lot of people that have gone on internship interviews and say employers like it as a plus on their resume</p>
<p>My daughter was an RA last year in a small freshman dorm at a large public university in California (UCI). It was a great experience for her. Benefits (to us) was free room and board for the entire year which cut her schooling cost in half. Benefits to her were: her own suite with private bathroom, bedroom and living area; lots of training and experience in dealing with different personalities and difficult situations (busting kids for drug and alcohol use, a case of alcohol poisoning requiring paramedics, etc.); great resume builder. She got three weeks of very intensive training before school started - I was impressed by the quality and depth of the training provided, and the various skills she learned will serve her well in life. </p>
<p>Downsides - it was a huge time commitment. She was responsible for social programming in her dorm, and running various activities on a biweekly or monthly basis. Besides kids knocking on her door all times of the day and night needing various types of assistance, she also had to share 24-hour on-call duty about once a week for the entire freshman dorm complex of about two dozen residential buildings. This meant late night foot patrols through all the buildings as well as sometimes getting called in the middle of the night to another dorm building to deal with various crises. Also, as it was her senior year, it meant living on campus with a bunch of freshman instead of in an off-campus house or apartment like most of her friends.</p>
<p>S was an RA his sophomore year. Overall, he learned a lot (great training) but you might ask D what other activities interest/classes interest her in the year ahead as life does get really full. Being an RA might not blend well with a heavy course load or a major role in a campus group. </p>
<p>Overall, it can be a very maturing process.</p>
<p>D said she wouldn’t want to be an RA because of the late night rounds (midnight during the week) and she takes early classes. Being up past 1 and then getting up for 7 o’clock labs is not something she could do. </p>
<p>Another con, at her school, is that the compensation isn’t that good. It’s a stipend plus single room for the price of a double. Check the compensation before signing on.</p>
<p>At schools with decent compensation, I think it’s a great deal.</p>
<p>Our daughter is in her second year as a Residence Intern (that is what Hampshire College calls their RAs). Pluses and minuses have been mostly the same as described above. If your kid is social and a problem-solver, then it might be a good fit. Our daughter has had to deal with alcohol poisoning, a suicide attempt, and moving everyone off campus during the big snowstorm/power outage last weekend. She gets half off her single room (but most Hampshire students are in singles anyway) and a stipend that is roughly equivalent to the other half. Another big plus for us is that she can be an RA even though we don’t qualify for financial aid (something I am bitter about, but another topic entirely!).</p>
<p>My D is in her second year as an RA at a state school. She loves it. Last year, she was in a low rise building with primarily transfers and international students, most of whom were actually older than her. This year, she is in a newly renovated freshman dorm and is enjoying it as well.</p>
<p>She gets a single room of her own and free board, plus about 60 -70 % off on the meal plan, depending on which one she chooses. She does come up about a week early, but it’s great for her and us because moving her in is easier. She is on duty a couple of nights a week which requires her to person the desk till about 11 and be on call till 7 AM. She has another job for about 15 hours per week on campus and is in 2 bands and a singing ensemble. Her residents often come and hear her play out with her groups both on and off campus. She is planning to be a teacher and the records she has to keep and the activities she has to organize are helping her with her learning in developing curriculum and lesson plans. The money we are saving will enable us to help her with her required grad school.</p>
<p>The downside is that we see her for a week less or so, also she is required to deal with drunk behavior, etc. but she has developed her own methods. Several of her residents from last year tried to move with her to her new dorm!</p>
<p>At D’s school, about 130 students applied for about 25 RA slots her first year. She was one of the few freshman who was hired.</p>
<p>My D is a program assistant for a freshman “living learning” unit this year. It’s kind of like a combination RA/TA job. She gets free room and $3000 stipend. She could have had a single, but really wanted to continue rooming with her best friend - so she’s still in a double. </p>
<p>Downside: lots of responsibility - weekly meetings, office hours, 2 weeks of training in the summer, living with freshman, having to be “on” when you just want to be left alone. Luckily, her dorm has a regular RA who handles all the discipline/rule violation issues.</p>
<p>Upside: the money, gets to meet lots of new people, looks good on resume.</p>
<p>My nephew was an RA. He didn’t qualify for FA, so for him, this was a good, well paying job. He also got free room and board. But the biggest reason why he did it was because he was ensured housing. At his college, students are guarenteed housing for the first two years. If he hadn’t become an RA, he’d be off campus in a grundgy area and a bus ride away. For him, it was a no-brainer.</p>
<p>S’s school doesn’t call them RA’s but has a couple of levels of RA-ish positions you can get. He went through the interview process but decided not to do it (with our support to not do it) for a few reasons. </p>
<p>Be sure to clarify at her school what benefits/costs are really covered. At his school it was NOT R and B - but a flat fee of $2500 - not worth the committment in time (including reporting 2 weeks before school starts, only being allowed to be take off a couple of times a semester among other things).</p>
<p>My D is an RA and I can say it has been the best experience possible for her. She has matured (I already thought she was mature), has learned to do social planning, has learned to deal with difficult situations, has learned to be composionate with students and to really care about others that are not necessarily in her immediate circle of friends. Yes she gets the knocks on the door at weird hours but she was prepared for that. She loves being involved with everyone on her floor and doesnt really mind the being on call deal. Halloween weekend she was on call for 4 buildings from the Thursday evening (27th) until 8 am on the 1st. She had no problems at all. She also holds down 21 credits this semestre and actually likes some of the time in the RA office as she can get some homework done.
I am sort of amazed that most people are saying the financial issue is very imporatant, My D is doing it for bassically nothing. Being an International Student she gets an international incentive and when she took the RA position she lost the incentive so in reality she gets nothing but the small stipend and a private room. We still pay a substantial amount more being OOS.
She wanted to be an RA because she wanted the experience, she wanted to make a difference. She volunteered to stay on campus for the Thansgiving break because her dorms are open through the holidays and someone needs to be there. She made it home for our Thanskgiving last month and wanted to help her American friends make it home for theirs so she volunteered.</p>
<p>I was an RA for 2 years many years ago. I majored in science but ended up pursuing an MS in counseling and I currently work as a school counselor. Being an RA is what started me down that path. As an aside, I was recently contacted on FB by a student who lived on my floor one year and whose daughter was having a tough freshman year. She contacted me for advice after all these years :)</p>
<p>I’m an RA, and I think that the above posters have hit on many of the major points. To answer your specific question, my compensation is a free single, a discount at the bookstore, and a $600 stipend per semester (which increases the longer you are an RA). Ultimately, it’s a good financial deal and I absolutely love that I get to meet more people. I am not always a very outgoing person and my job forces me to put myself out there a little more than I normally would. At my school, residence life also is a really cohesive community, and you get the feeling of being part of something bigger. </p>
<p>The downside is that sometimes the job can crop up unexpectedly and mess up your plans. The night you may have been planning to work on homework in the staff office on duty may end up being the night you have to write two incident reports for vandalism. Or you may be neck deep in an important paper when an upset resident comes knocking on your door. I haven’t had to deal with any serious problems so far, not even an alcohol violation (knock on wood) but the job still keeps me on my toes and it seems like things are always happening. </p>
<p>It’s not a job for people who can’t handle a lot of pressure. Some people thrive and stay in the position for years, while others tank and burn out after a semester or two. Ultimately what it comes down to is: know thyself.</p>
<p>I happened to be a RA during my Ph.D years in one of University of California. The pros are: to know a lot of people in reslife (residential life) and your residents; get enough trainings to deal with people; free room and board plus a small stipend. Depend on your major, the experience might be very important on your resume when you look for jobs. The cons are: you need to hold office hours and on duty. You might get up in the mid-night to deal with strange situations even if it will a midterm or final examination next day. You need to spend time to run programs. I enjoyed very much about the position and strongly recommend to be a RA. Depends on what you are looking for. Working as a RA is according to your own schedule. Usually RAs share duties and make a calendar to cover the duty based on their own availabilities. If you work on other jobs on campus, it will never be flexible like a RA. If you have good relationship with other RAs, they can cover your duty if they are some emergency to you. I checked RA positions in Dartmouth. It only has a stipend. As somebody pointed out, the board is not covered. It will be important to check out the work load for a RA in Dartmouth.
To participate programs run by your RA to know more about it to see if you like to be a RA. To take part in their training will have more information. I believe that the application is in February.</p>