<p>I suggest ur son takes a single room so he wont have to deal with late night get together or opposite sex visits… It will be his own room with his rules…</p>
<p>If you are leaning toward having a contract, I recommend reading,</p>
<p>Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
by William L. Ury</p>
<p>While it’s often used for business and government, it is also a good book on how to handle everyday life with friends, spouses, and I suppose roommates. </p>
<p>I agree with keepingitlight - words like ‘insist’ and ‘forbid’ aren’t useful in negotiating a contract. Lastly, on CC it seems people talk about how students change their minds on majors quickly and often - even during the time between application and entrance into college. I suspect attitudes about lifestyle and worldview also change once they hit college.</p>
<p>OP … basically agree with the other posters about a roommate agreement being a negotiation … just put yourself in the other guys shows for a minute. Or consider this scenario.<br>
- You son sends an email to his new roommate saying he’d like to discuss a roommate agreement<br>
- The roommate immediately emails back and says great idea
- About 5 minutes later the roommate emails your son again with his 10 demands of what HAS TO be in the roommate agreement.</p>
<p>How would your son feel now? Would he think the roommate is being fair to unilaterally decide the rules?</p>
<p>PS - I do not agree forbidding over night guests all the time is “fair” to the roommate. Assuming the roommate’s other half also lives in a double it is reasonable for them to expect <em>some</em> time alone in the places where they live. Personally, I think a night here or there is fair … and certainly some blocks of time each week to be alone is also fair.</p>
<p>OP, are you the parent or the student? In your first post on CC you say you are the student. Now you are the parent.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What’s more funny is that IME, proposing any curfew on campuses other than ones with a majority of socially conservative students also tends to also go over well as a lead balloon. </p>
<p>Especially among 17+ year old men who felt they are finally free of reminders of parental restrictions like that which impede the exercising their newly found “independence”. Would have been moreso for me as my parents felt I was personally/socially responsible to cease having curfews after 11…and have been vindicated. :)</p>
<p>This perception is moreso the case once one has graduated college and starts living with roommates in apartments. Who wants to be with roommates who are acting very much like a nagging parent over an imposed restriction many young adults IME feel is most appropriate for children and adolescents still living at home? </p>
<p>A few days ago, I was at a college friend’s house where a younger alum admitted she couldn’t have any roommates because she realizes her need for early quiet hours* due to medical needs means most people wouldn’t want to room with her because they’d feel like they’re walking on eggshells around her. Consequently, she has had to live at home due to high housing costs in the city. </p>
<ul>
<li>The level of quiet includes the need to tippy-toe or to speak very softly.</li>
</ul>
<p>He needs a single. The odds of getting an average roommate to agree to that at an average school are very, very, very slim. Remember, it’s not just HIS room.</p>