Small College & University Network

Hello everyone,

As we continue to build inclusive communities in our residence halls, we've seen an increase in non-traditional adult students choosing to live on campus. Some traditional-aged residents have expressed challenges or discomfort with this to the point where they say they feel "unsafe" living with these older adults. We have had situations where the parents of these students have reached out to our Dean directly to voice their discontent. Our departmental stance is that they are entitled to reside on campus and we attempt to house them with other students that are more similar in age, however it is not always or often possible. 

Has anyone else had this experience? Is there something we can proactively do to mitigate the discomfort? Moreover when thinking about assignments and spaces we dont always get the option to move folks, what do we do then? 

Any/all advice is greatly appreciated!

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Monica Gallegos | Director of Residence Life & Housing
Colorado State University-Pueblo | Pueblo CO | (719) 549-2602
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Hi Monica!

To answer some of your questions...

Has anyone else had this experience? Is there something we can proactively do to mitigate the discomfort? - Yes, I would share gathering national data on more non traditional aged students with concerned families and supporters is an option. We've also seen staff sit through residents while they fill in their mandated roommate agreement so they can mitigate discomfort. We try and match them as close as we can for roommate living form (i.e. same bedtime, temperature, attitudes towards guests, shared spaces, responsibilities, etc.). We also had staff had two parties of different ages talk out what they would do if they had to confront each other and talking that out. It does take more staff bandwidth but highly trained RAs can do this too.

We also have multiple trainings with RAs to help mitigate resident feelings of unsafe vs. uncomfortable, and what can sitting in initial discomfort teach you.

if there's space to move folks, that's always helpful, our school has one building in an apartment complex of 5 just focused on law, graduate, and non traditional aged students because we do have a high number of them and Seattle housing is expensive, so on campus living is a more sought after option. 

Happy to connect further! - [email protected]

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Alvyn Dimaculangan |
Seattle University
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