Residential College Systems: the "old" new way to a healthy campus community

Parents Forum
21

<p>thanks andi and Jazzymom! I would love to know more about the different styles of residential colleges because, as both andi and jym626 point out, it does sound like an ideal arrangement in so many ways. My S1 was in an all frosh dorm with upperclass RA's last year and I all can say, at least from a parent POV, it wasn't either as fun or ideal as the college hype would make it out to be. I suppose that having to pick up and move into new housing situations with the end of each year has both plus and negative sides but the idea of a community forged over 4 years seems a real plus that would add a special dimension to the "college experience". Like wecandothis, I would love to know more about the different styles and accommodations, apart from Oxbridge-Hogwarts, that fit into the Residential College model - and if this type of college residence is healthier - especially on those campuses that don't offer quiet, wellness or substance-free housing options.</p>

<p>FWIW, I found this description of the Oxbridge type residential college on the Durham University website:</p>

<p>
[quote]
What is a College?</p>

<p>Most UK universities organise their student accommodation as 'Halls of Residence'. Fundamentally, they provide a study bedroom for each student (and often a dining space shared between a group of students). Colleges certainly provide this, but they provide very much more besides.</p>

<p>Only Durham, Oxford and Cambridge colleges have the formal status as 'listed bodies', though a small number of other UK universities sign up to the college ideal to a greater or lesser extent. Fundamentally that ideal is</p>

<pre><code>* Students are members of a college for their whole time at university, including times when they might 'live out' (normally living in shared, rented accommodation in the local community). This is unlike a hall of residence system where students may move in and out of different halls or, if living in non-university owned accommodation, retain no affiliation with a hall.
* Students' relationships with colleges tend to be lifelong ones. After graduating they retain a strong sense of connection with, and loyalty to, their college as much as to their university. The alumni often play a big role in the college, contributing their time and experience to each new group of students who join.
* Student clubs and societies are developed at college level. While there will normally be cross-university clubs and societies as well, each college will have its own set and this encourages far greater rates of participation in, for example, sports, cultural activities and community projects. In a Halls of Residence system, clubs and societies tend to only be available at the university level.
* Students participate in local democracy and self-management, running most events for themselves through 'common rooms' (normally the 'junior common room' for undergraduates, the 'middle common room' for postgraduates and the 'senior common room' for staff and other members). This gives students a much greater sense of involvement in their own community. It also means that colleges are much more mixed than Halls of Residence - undergraduates from all years, postgraduates across a variety of programmes and staff from across the university come together to make up the college body.
* Student support is often organised at the college level. Students will have members of staff associated with the college to look after their development which might include encouraging their participation in college life, advising them on study skills, helping them think about the world of work, helping them with personal problems and acting as an advocate for them in disputes. This complements and enhances the support for academic development in departments. In Halls of Residence, support tends to be available within hall for emergencies, but development tends to focus only on departments or take place through central units.
</code></pre>

<p>Colleges vary greatly in the degree of tradition and formality to which they adhere. Some are very formal, but many are relaxed and open communities. Joining a college is much like joining a new family - each has its quirks but at heart it is the basis of a lifelong relationship. Our experience suggests that, whatever their background and whatever the college, students get more from belonging to colleges than halls of residence and that almost every member of the college quickly finds a role in the community and the support they need to get the most from their time at college.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/butler.college/overview/whatsacollege/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dur.ac.uk/butler.college/overview/whatsacollege/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

22

<p>Vassar College has a house system. Freshmen are assigned to a house and generally remain there for three years. Each house is said to have its own personality. Most seniors go into on-campus apartments. There are no RAs.</p>

<p>From the web site:</p>

<p>Main and the remaining eight traditional residence halls house a majority of the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors on campus. Accommodating between 169 and 352 students, each house has a separate and unique personality that drives community development. An active in-house leadership team consisting of faculty, administrators, and students largely directs community, in any given house. The fourteen House Fellows are faculty members (and their families) who live within the houses and take part in house programming, leadership, and informal advising. The five House Advisors are live-in professional administrators who all hold master’s degrees and oversee the building management, student leadership, and overall educational endeavors for two houses. The student leadership in the residence halls is comprised of many positions that serve the different needs of the students. The House Interns oversee a group of Student Fellows who serve as peer advisers to first-year students. The Community Fellows serve as peer advisers to all upperclass students living in the residence halls. The Transfer/Visiting/Exchange Program encompasses a House Intern and three Student Fellows to specifically meet the needs of sudents who arrive at Vassar via transferring from another institution, a visiting student program, or an institutional exchange program.</p>

23

<p>Notre Dame has a residence hall system that encourages a family environment. They do not have Greeks and you stay in your dorm all four years. Intramurals are between dorms. They do not allow students to pick their roommates as freshman--they make sure that your roommate is from another part of the country to encourage the expansion of your friend base.</p>

<p>It was one of the factors that made my son choose ND</p>

24

<p>There are differences between colleges that say they have a residential college system and a system like Oxford and Cambridge:</p>

<p>a) A house system that the student doesn't stay in for 3 or 4 years... with faculty/administration in residence, programming, dining but inhabitants still have to enter some kind of residence/dorm selection each year (Stanford is like this)</p>

<p>b) A system like Harvard - where Freshman housing is separate from upper class housing, but most upperclassmen stay in the same "residential" college for their remaining 3 years</p>

<p>c) A system like Yale - where students are in the same residential college for all 4 years.</p>

<p>Many of the honors "colleges" at larger state universities include separate housing, to give more of a feel of a residential college.</p>

<p>Most of the smaller liberal arts colleges I'm familiar with...especially those with mostly smaller dorms and/or variety of types of dorms...have lottery systems. So most students change dorms/residences...unless they are in a frat. </p>

<p>Separate dining for each dorm or residence group, versus large campus cafeterias, also seem to impact whether or not there's a "feel" of a residential college.</p>

<p>Many people find that most good friends come from their dorm/residence.<br>
There are clearly many educational, social and "networking" advantages to a residential college, but I was glad to have the opportunity to get better aquainted with new groups of people each year. I attended a school with in-dorm dining and dorm specific social programming, but where students had to enter a housing lottery each year (but could move in a group with up to 8 people...and the best lottery number)</p>

25

<p>hi twinmom-
How is your fella liking Vassar? Vassar's "house" system seems now more like just a dorm with a faculty family ("house fellows") in residence. Back when we had individual diningrooms in the dorms, and there were "jobs" for the freshmen, such as helping with tea at 4, demitasse after dinner, cleaning plates in the diningroom (known as "scrape") and covering for the ladies who handled the phone switchboard in the lobby (known as "white angels"), there was more of a "house" feel. There are still the livingrooms/parlors on the main floors, but the diningrooms have been converted to study areas and the dining is done, for the mostpart, in the all college dining center (the "ACDC"). Since most students live on campus, in the dorms, the Terrace apts, the Co-op or the townhouses, you'll still get a nice mix of all 4 classes in the dorms. No "freshman" dorms. Despite similarities, it had a different "feel" from the residential college system. You can change dorms any time at Vassar. (I lived in 2 different dorms). There is a "loyalty" to the dorm you live in, but it differs from the bonding that I've seen happen in my s's Res. College program, and what I saw my brother experience at Yale. It's still a great program. Does your s. really call the dorm he lives in a "house"? We never did. It was a dorm....</p>

26

<p>2boysima-
Doesnt Yale stillput their freshmen in the dorms on the green? You are "affiliated" with your college for all 4 yrs, and eat in your college's commons, but I am pretty sure, unless something has changed, that the freshmen are housed with other freshmen in their college, but in separate housing onthe green, away from the colleges.</p>

27

<p>At Yale, the freshmen in 10 of the 12 colleges live with other freshmen from their college in separate housing on the Old Campus (usually 2 colleges per building), and they eat weekday meals at a central Commons. They eat weekend meals in their colleges. Freshmen in the other two colleges -- and those are the two largest colleges, I believe, so that is about 20% of the freshmen -- live and eat in their colleges. So most students don't live in their colleges per se all four years, but they do live with the same group of people in their class all four years and they have a strong college connection from day 1.</p>

<p>Another aspect of the system is that all of the advising functions happen through the residential college. Freshman advisors and major advisors are all faculty who are fellows of the student's college (although that can be altered if there is a good reason), and each college has a dean who signs off on course selections and handles academic and disciplinary issues.</p>

<p>It's a really nice system.</p>

28

<p>Penn's house system really is just in name.. it's very recent in fact. Student's can move between houses at their own free will and it's not as if the houses compete or anything like that. </p>

<p>It's nothing compared to what Yale and Harvard have. Same in name but not in practice.</p>

29

<p>My son goes to Rice and the one thing that makes their residential college system really work is there are no frats or sororities allowed on Campus. There is no elitism then, you are automatically in a "frat" with none of the exclusions allowed in other schools. I think it forces everyone to get along and accept everyone. From the moment you start at Rice and go through O-week you are so much a part of your new "family".and have so many new close friends. These ties last throughout life. I notice when alumni sign any letters or are mentioned anywhere, the residential college's name is included.
Within one week of starting school you have so many good friends, including upper classmen who can guide you though all the in's and out's of being there. I think putting freshmen in a different building takes away all the support that a real residential college can offer you. I think Rice's incredibly successful residential college systems is one of the reasons that Rice earned one of the highest "quality of life" ratings. Almost everybody there is very very happy.</p>

30

<p>jym626 - Just loving it. I don't know what he calls it - except he's starting to call it home!</p>

31

<p>Actually Penn has a house cup that includes competitions among the houses in intramural sports as well as other things throughout the year.</p>

32

<p>I think my idea of Vassar's house system is similar to jym's - "like just a dorm with a faculty family ("house fellows") in residence". From the webpage description it does seem that there is a shift in the role of the faculty and dorm administration that would give the houses more of a residential college system feel. One of the most appealing aspects of all of these college residential systems is the opportunity to forge close bonds with students and also develop deep ties of loyalty to the college and, if the kids are lucky - like twinmom's S, create a sense of extended family. That I do know was always an important goal of the dorm experience at Vassar.</p>

<p>Apart from the social bonding, the type of set up in which the faculty house fellows are readily available and act as freshman advisors and major advisors, as JHS describes for Yale, makes for a great residential college system and I would think is an important plus. Is this the case at Vassar too, or is the faculty role limited to create a social connection and to bond with the students on a more informal level? </p>

<p>I have to admit that I do like the idea of fratless campuses like Vassar and Rice, but I was also wondering if the atmosphere in a residential college could be become too insular and stifling and so I enjoyed reading this article in the Harvard Crimson:</p>

<p>"Coming Up Short"</p>

<p>
[quote]
Freshman spring, while my friends from home compared rents, bought furniture, and signed leases, I narrowed my intimate social circle down to a five-woman clique and floated a paper boat across the Charles River. In retrospect, I can’t help but feel immature. The system of residential housing and dining is a fundamental part of the Harvard experience, but it comes at the expense of being forced to assume adult responsibilities.</p>

<p>People criticize the Core program for allowing Harvard students to graduate knowing the intimacies of Japanese pop music while remaining clueless on general American history. But equally troubling is that over a thousand Harvard grads who can recite Adam Smith but can’t use a dishwasher are unleashed into New York (and presumably, a few other places) every June. The exceptional situation that Harvard undergrads find themselves in—eating in dining halls, living in Houses, having their bathrooms cleaned by Dorm Crew—does little to encourage the development of self-sufficiency and independence necessitated by the “real world.”</p>

<p>Harvard’s residential housing and dining system is—for better or worse—the college’s way of coddling its undergraduates. Step outside the Harvard bubble, and students at other colleges are juggling fluctuating rent prices and housing shortages along with student loans, jobs and schoolwork.</p>

<p>Out of my four best friends from home, I am the only one currently living in college housing and using a meal plan. One of my friends, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, lives in an apartment with three friends and cooks dinner with her boyfriend every night. For her, the experience of living and cooking for herself has not only instilled an admirable sense of independence, but has also allowed her to rest assured that her significant other is a willing (and capable) cook before committing further.</p>

<p>One of the most common questions I am asked at home is how high rent is in Cambridge. Fairly high, I think, is my normal answer, followed by: I don’t actually know, because most Harvard students live in dorms all four years. This is usually greeted with some mixture of horror and pity. The same goes for their reactions to my explanation that I pay a solid annual board fee and therefore am guaranteed three meals a day in my dining hall. My friends don a uniform expression of shock and issue a similar: “Doesn’t that suck?”</p>

<p>“Yes,” I lie, as visions of platters of red-spiced chicken and bottomless cones of Fro-Yo dance through my head. “It’s terrible.” But the truth is, as much as I feel spoiled by Harvard’s housing and dining system—and as unusual I recognize it to be in the greater scheme of college life—I also think that the onus is on students to take their own initiative in preparing themselves for life in the “real world,” without relying on Harvard’s impetus. And although at times I feel shamefully pampered by Harvard’s housing and dining systems, the House community has its charms and quirks that I would be reluctant to sacrifice in the name of full independence.</p>

<p>In another two and a half years, I am going to want my own place with privacy, a kitchen, and maybe even a significant other who likes to cook. But for now, I like having a tutor in my entryway who survived Social Studies 10 when he was an undergrad here. I like Winthrop’s subterranean dining experience. I even am growing to like the eight by eleven shoebox I share with another person and call a “bedroom”…even if we both can’t stand in there at the same time.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516070%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516070&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

33

<p>Actually, that cluelessness about living in the real world probably wouldn't happen at Rice, because many students do get kicked out of the residential college dorms for one year (usually junior or sometimes soph year) if they lose the "lottery". But they can come back for the rest of the time, if they like. However, even when living off campus they are still very much part of their residential colleges. By the time they may be kicked off they are already part of the "family" and had the support when they most needed it.</p>

34

<p>my s. got "jacked off" campus (as they call it) his soph. yr at Rice. He had a good experience living off campus last yr but is happy to be back on campus this year. Yes, even the off campus kids are very involved in the res. college life and eat in the serveries when they are on campus. At Rice, living on campus is very desired. He is happy to be back on campus.</p>

35

<p>Rutgers is now converting to calling its 5 different campuses "residential colleges." There used to be 3 different undergraduate liberal arts colleges at Rutgers (Douglass, Livingston, and Rutgers) but they are now being combined into the School of Arts and Sciences. I think most residential colleges are usually only one or a few buildings, so the Rutgers concept is different.</p>

<p>More info:
<a href="http://ur.rutgers.edu/transform_ru/presidents_plan/residential.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ur.rutgers.edu/transform_ru/presidents_plan/residential.shtml&lt;/a>
<a href="http://ur.rutgers.edu/transform_ru/implement.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ur.rutgers.edu/transform_ru/implement.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

36

<p>A lot of places say they have a college system, but none really have one even remotely like Yale's that forms the center of all campus social, intellectual, advisory, residential and academic life (even Harvard, which has a great system, doesn't cover all four years of undergrad life and isn't as well-funded). Trust me, I've visited most of them.</p>

<p>The so-called college systems at universities around the country are mostly just "named dormitories" that began to be called "colleges" when the universities, looking at Harvard and Yale, realized it was a good marketing opportunity (in the case of Princeton, starting in the 1980s!).</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong - college systems can be great no matter how well-developed they are, even if they don't really do much. And it's likely that 50 or 100 years from now, some of them may eventually grow into systems that are a little more like Yale's. What I want to point out is that it is VERY misleading to say that a system is the same thing everywhere just because it is called a "college system" - what you actually get will vary greatly from place to place. All in all, of course there are a few actual college systems out there beyond Harvard and Yale, but even if they replicate some of the aspects of Yale's systems, they do not have even a fraction of the dedicated funding that Yale's colleges have available -- literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars -- to promote the intellectual, academic and social well-being of their students.</p>

37

<p>go Rutgers!</p>

38

<p>The residential college system is one of the main reasons I chose Rice over my other options, and so far (I'm a freshman) I have no regrets. Your very first week at Rice (called O-Week) introduces you to all of the college traditions and rivalries, and from that point on you're really a part of the family. I know some schools (Northwestern, in particular) have "residential colleges" that you can choose to join during your time on campus, but I can't imagine that such an arrangement offers the same bonding atmosphere that comes from being randomly assigned to a college and then quickly indoctrinated by it. I think the lack of a Greek system is also key to the success of the colleges here at Rice, because the college takes that place in the social spectrum without the negative aspects that are often attributed to fraternity/sorority hazing and other such activities. Also, the fact that we don't have separate freshman houses allows for very good interaction between the different classes, which can be very helpful when you're looking for someone to help you with organic chemistry or someone who has a car and knows the directions to the nearest 24-hour restaurant. Overall, I think the college system offers an ideal university experience, and I'm also quite certain that I live in the best college ever.</p>

39

<p>Being that Vassar is a small campus, it wouldn't make sense to have separate dining in the "houses" as they do at Yale and Harvard. That, in and of itself, probably takes away from the residential college experience. Being in the house - or dorm - for three years does facilitate close, long-term relationships, I would think. I don't believe that the faculty in the houses act in any type of academic advisor role ... rather, each student gets a pre-major advisor (based upon an interest form filled out in the summer before freshman year) and, later, a major advisor (which may or may not be the same person.) The community fellows, who are largely sophomores, are very helpful to the freshman. They lead fellow groups (I hope I have the language right - maybe not?) who facilitate bonding early on. However, I think this happens more on the floor than in the whole house. </p>

<p>There is no stress in choosing a dorm for the following year. There are no special interest dorms and, as mentioned above, no Greek life (which obviously appeals to a certain kind of individual.) Housing is guaranteed for four years and somewhere around 98% (if not more) of the kids live on-campus. In response to the excerpt from the Harvard Crimson article above (Post #32) ... I suppose you could say that Vassar students have the best of both worlds, because as seniors they are provided with apartments on campus - however, there's no meal plan ... they cook for themselves and pay campus housing rates.</p>

<p>I was totally impressed with Yale's residential college system when we visited. As I recall, at Yale, if you've had a parent, sister, brother, etc. who lived in one college, you're definitely in the same one unless you request otherwise. At Harvard, it's much more random. Students "block" with up to eight friends (could be co-ed) and are randomly assigned to a house sophomore year where they remain until they graduate. A lot of people say that the system doesn't compare with Yale's. I couldn't say ... but I will tell you that the freshman do love living together in or just outside Harvard Yard for the year. All freshmen eat together in Hogwarts-like Annenberg ... which creates a nice freshman experience ... upperclassmen may not eat there.</p>

40

<p>I think the deal at Yale is that if you had a parent or sibling at Yale, the default rule is you're in the lottery like everyone else, but you get the chance to elect either (a) your parent/sibling's college, or (b) any college but that one. At least, that used to be the deal.</p>

<p>80% of the Yale freshmen have exactly the same experience as the Harvard freshmen -- living together on the Yard-like Old Campus and eating together at cavernous, neoclassical Commons five days a week. The difference is you don't have the stress of forming blocks in the spring and seeing your next-best friends downstairs go to one of the Radcliffe houses while you wind up at Eliot. (The Harvard system used to be even more stressful, in that you had to apply to a house. So the houses developed somewhat stable characters, but there could be unfairness.) On the other hand, the Harvard system lets you form a block with people who don't necessarily live within 100 feet from you already.</p>