After months of ironing out kinks with the new first-year residency requirement, the Department of Residential Life has made a final list of exemptions for the policy.
First-year students who are part-time students, over 21, married, living with a parent or the legal guardian of a dependent child are automatically exempt from the residency requirement. Conditional exemption criteria include financial hardships, medical conditions or "other compelling needs," said Steve Waller, Residential Life director.
If approved by the LSU Systems Office, the exemptions will take effect with the freshman residency requirement in fall 2009.
Waller said conditional exemption claims will be reviewed by Residential Life officials for validity. There will also be an appeals committee to hear students' dissatisfaction with the review's decision.
The proposed appeals committee will be chaired by Executive Vice Chancellor Astrid Merget, Waller said. Other committee members will include officials from the Residence Hall Association, Student Health Services, Student Life and Academic Services, Student Government, Residential Life, Residential Colleges, Undergraduate Admissions, Student Aid and the Student Health Center.
"We're working on the assumption now that this is the policy," Waller said about the exemption qualifications.
He said his department expects a response to the draft before June 1.
Residential Life officials estimate about 70 percent of incoming freshmen will rent space in residence halls when the first-year residency requirement takes effect.
Waller said this percentage stands with the current exemption criteria from the requirement, and the "capture rate" of incoming freshmen is usually between 60 and 63 percent each year. About 4,800 first-year students are expected to attend the University in 2008 - about 200 more than the 2007 freshman enrollment. He said the residence capacity for the 18 residence halls on campus in the 2008-2009 school year will be 3,730. If Waller's estimates hold, about 3,400 freshmen will live on campus in the fall.
Residential Life is gearing up to accommodate the incoming freshmen and build new residential quarters.
Furniture for Blake Hall, which will open in the fall, will be delivered Monday, Waller said. Blake will be the new Agriculture residential college, he said.
This past fall, South and West Halls of the Residential College Complex near Kirby Smith became the first newly-built residence halls since 1965. The complex was "designed from the ground up" for studying, he said. Faculty have offices in the buildings, and the complex includes three "Smart Classrooms" that include smart boards, computers and audio visual equipment.
South Hall is the Engineering residential college, and West Hall serves as the Business residential college. The completion date for the third building of the complex, originally fall 2015, was changed in March to fall 2012, Waller said.
Waller said residential colleges offer a "small university" experience within the large University campus. And GPAs, freshman-sophomore retention rates and graduation rates of students who live on campus are usually higher than those of their off-campus peers.
"There's an academic boost for students who live in residence halls," Waller said.
Mark Slavich, marketing junior, said living in Kirby Smith did not necessarily facilitate studying, but it motivated him to go to class because he was already on campus. He said he developed good study habits as a freshman and attributes his college success to those habits.
"My GPA is about the same," Slavich said comparing his freshman and junior years.
Slavich said he supports the residency requirement for 2009 freshmen and recommends students take advantage of the opportunities offered to on-campus students.
Christina Cambre, psychology freshman who lives in Broussard Hall, said living in residence halls "cuts back" on room for excuses for not attending class - especially since one of her classes was in a Smart Classroom in the hall.
She said she had to take courses such as ISDS in the Cox Communications Building and English in the I.T. Residential College to live in Broussard Hall this year.
"I met more freshmen than I would have if I had lived off campus," Cambre said of the exclusively freshman hall.
Residence hall costs will rise in fall 2008 an average of $100, according to Residential Life's Web site.
---- Contact Sarah Lawson at slawson@lsureveille.com.
