The Problem

An atrocious freshman living situation could really place a damper on the freshman experience. From converting Towers Hall into triple occupancy over the summer, to moving freshmen into upperclassmen housing, and to forcing resident assistant's to share a room with a new freshmen, Drexel's living circumstances were not ideal this year. For the few who were lucky enough to get housing in Van Rensselaer and Race, residential living is slightly better. However, for the vast majority of the incoming class, living on campus can be described as unfortunate. As a resident of Towers Hall, I can personally say that it is evident that Drexel’s solution to overflow housing this year was an after-thought. Since Towers has significantly more people in the building, this situation led to serious logistical problems. These issues vary from maintaining hygiene in the bathrooms, to overworked elevators , to an inadequate laundry center. Although Drexel did take these problems into consideration, the solutions were insufficient for the number of extra people enrolled. Drexel's Student Life and Administrative Services stated that "the fall class of 2011 was the biggest incoming freshmen class the University has seen," which caused overcrowding on campus (Freshman Class Profile). Although the dorms are filled to capacity, Drexel still prides itself on having a great "Freshmen Experience." 

Within each residence hall with first-year students, staff members work to create a comprehensive, diverse experience in which every student has a place to belong, to explore, and to call home. Through weekly events with residents and building-wide gatherings such as Thanksgiving dinners, open mic events, athletic competitions, and movie series, first-year experience resident assistants work to connect students to each other and to the Drexel community in order to help successfully transition freshmen into college. Furthermore, a freshman experience is important to get acquainted with the school and college life and act as a supplemental learning experience. According to the US Office of education, 22% of a school’s fiscal spending goes towards building residence halls, and nearly half of the current university buildings are dedicated to living halls (Clarcq). With such a large student presence on campus, Drexel is trying to supplement the learning process and make the transition to college easier (Drexel University Parent Guide).

This transition is much harder to achieve when students are forced to live with upperclassmen, in an overcrowded building, or even off campus. Overcrowding Towers Hall made it that much harder to transition into college life. As a freshman student living in Towers, I know it is hard to have to share a space with another person, but to have to share a room with two other people was at first extremely unnerving. There is also the fact that there are more people to share limited resources, such as the TV and common room. Moreover, new students who are forced into non-traditional freshmen housing methods feel socially awkward and are isolated from a complete freshman experience. Students would miss out on bonding activities taking place on the floor, floor shenanigans, and the overall floor experience that is essential for incoming students (Politi). Through the new overflow housing plan enacted by Drexel this year, certain freshmen will never have this floor experience; therefore, this is a serious problem that Drexel has to rectify in upcoming years in order to succeed in making the transition into college easier for freshmen.