Merely two years ago, any freshman who attended SOAR (Student Orientation, Advising & Registration) was informed about the sad reality that California State University, Long Beach, CSULB, is a “commuter school."
However, it is a school that continuously looks for ways to bring its students together to create a comfortable community. Besides the numerous student clubs and organizations CSULB has to offer, they have now created a mandatory change in order to bring in extra revenues and keep a tight-knit community between students.
Effective fall 2010 – with the exception of students over 21 years old, and students who filed to be exempt – first-time CSULB freshman students were required to live at residence halls, according to room availability. Making the residence halls mandatory for all freshman students is one of the greatest steps and reforms brought to the dorms this past year.
According to an article in the Daily Forty-Niner, “The new policy will offer many advantages to freshmen including greater psychosocial development, higher graduation rates, greater education aspiration and greater satisfaction with their overall college experience.”
However, it is a school that continuously looks for ways to bring its students together to create a comfortable community. Besides the numerous student clubs and organizations CSULB has to offer, they have now created a mandatory change in order to bring in extra revenues and keep a tight-knit community between students.
Effective fall 2010 – with the exception of students over 21 years old, and students who filed to be exempt – first-time CSULB freshman students were required to live at residence halls, according to room availability. Making the residence halls mandatory for all freshman students is one of the greatest steps and reforms brought to the dorms this past year.
According to an article in the Daily Forty-Niner, “The new policy will offer many advantages to freshmen including greater psychosocial development, higher graduation rates, greater education aspiration and greater satisfaction with their overall college experience.”
In 2008, getting a room at CSULB’s residence hall was comparable to getting into an overly impacted major. Students were on the waiting lists even after school had resumed, a junior communications major, Olivia Perez O’dess said, “I moved into the dorms second week of school that fall. I remember not thinking I would move in because I was number 2 on the waiting list when school started that year.”
A year later, emptiness plagued the dorms as many rooms were mainly accommodated by single persons. According to an article in the Daily Forty-Niner, an entire building at the Residential Learning College and numerous rooms in the other dormitories were left empty with an approximate 500 vacancies. O’dess said, “I didn’t stay in the dorms that year but I heard how empty it was. Some of my friends had rooms to themselves just because there weren’t enough people to fill them up. I was kind of jealous.”
For fall 2010, a handful of reforms came to CSULB’s residence halls alongside mandatory rooming for freshman students. According to the CSULB website, those who are returning students from 2008 and have not missed a fall or spring semester, pay $2,450 less each academic year than returning students from 2009, 2010 and new applicants. It costs returning students from 2009, 2010 and new applicants anywhere from $10,150 to $10,570 per academic year for rent and a meal plan.
When asked if the price is worth the experience, freshman and social work major, Tiffany Gallarzo, gave her opinion after almost completing one full academic year in the dorms.
"The dorms are not worth the money," said Gallarzo, "They should have updated the dorms by now with all the money they are receiving, and I feel like students should be allowed to express themselves freely without being punished for noise."
However, according to Carol Roberts-Corb, Director of Housing and Residential life, national studies have shown that college dorms are beneficial to students.
"I feel like it is definitely worth the money because students tend to perform better academically, have higher GPA's and stay and graduate," said Roberts-Corb, "The students tend to get more involved on campus and it helps them meet people."
By filling up the dorms with students and increasing the prices, this gives CSULB some relief to the budget crisis. However, tuition is rising alongside the cost of the dorms, making the price of college increase as a whole. This is becoming difficult for students to pay for their education especially when they are required to live in the dorms their first year.
A news release by the UCLA Civil Rights Project, states that many CSU students are first generation college students, and much of the faculty is concerned with the quality of education the students are receiving due to the state budget cuts and the downward spiral of the quality of education.
Making it mandatory for freshmen to live in the dorms the first year can provide a little relief to the budget shortfall at CSULB, but many students are struggling to pay the expenses of college.
2010-2011 CSU Comparison Institution
Academic-Year Resident Undergraduate, Student Fee Rates
| University | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | Increase | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers University (Newark, NJ) | $11,886 | $12,560 | $674 | 5.7% |
| Illinois State University (Normal, IL) | $10,531 | $11,399 | $868 | 8.2% |
| University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT) | $9,886 | $10,416 | $530 | 5.4% |
| Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) | $9,272 | $9,733 | $461 | 5.0% |
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County | $8,872 | $9,171 | $299 | 3.4% |
| University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee | $8,522 | $9,032 | $510 | 6.0% |
| George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) | $8,024 | $8,684 | $660 | 8.2% |
| Comparison Average1 | $8,081 | $8,682 | $600 | 7.4% |
| University of Texas at Arlington | $8,186 | $8,500 | $314 | 3.8% |
| Cleveland State University | $7,920 | $8,466 | $546 | 6.9% |
| Arizona State University at Tempe | $6,846 | $8,134 | $1,288 | 18.8% |
| Georgia State University at Atlanta | $7,298 | $7,884 | $586 | 8.0% |
| University of Colorado at Denver | $6,542 | $7,327 | $785 | 12.0% |
| State University of New York at Albany | $6,698 | $6,830 | $132 | 2.0% |
| North Carolina State University | $5,474 | $6,529 | $1,055 | 19.3% |
| University of Nevada at Reno | $5,262 | $5,561 | $299 | 5.7% |
| California State University | $4,893 | $5,390 | $497 | 9.2% |
Retrieved from: http://www.calstate.edu/budget/student-fees/comparison-fees/
Campus Costs of Attendance 2010-2011
California State University, Long Beach
| With Parents | On-Campus | Off-Campus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fees | 4,810 | 4,810 | 4,810 |
| Books and Supplies | 1,620 | 1,620 | 1,620 |
| Food and Housing | 4,392 | 11,038 | 10,980 |
| Transportation | 1,224 | 1,140 | 1,188 |
| Misc, Personal | 2,185 | 2,067 | 2,331 |
| TOTAL | $14,231 | $20,675 | $20,929 |
Retrieved from: http://www.calstate.edu/SAS/fa_coa.shtml
Picture outside Los Alamitos Dormitory at CSULB
Pictorial taken by Jared Ames
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