Housing is, undoubtedly, an important part of life. Especially for college students new to living without their parents, factors like location, roommates and personal space can be the difference between a great year and a dismal one.
When deciding where, how and with whom a student will live, it’s important to consider how home can influence their sense of identity and well-being. Each factor that shapes a living situation comes with a host of psychological effects, both positive and negative.
Josie Melrose, sophomore in ACES, lived in Busey Hall during her freshman year. She said she loved the hall’s Urbana location so much that she chose an apartment in the same area for this year.
“I have a bus stop really close to my apartment, so I can just hop on the bus right before class, or I can walk to class,” Melrose said. “Being close to campus was also important to me.”
Many students share Melrose’s preference for a convenient location. Finding proximity to classes and social hubs can be a key priority.
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Kimberly Rios, professor in LAS, said commuting to campus from a more isolated location can be a source of stress for students. Research published by Ed Diener, Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University, found that the length of a person’s commute is a strong predictor of stress.
A more isolated location may also enhance feelings of FOMO — the fear of missing out.
“There is actually some recent work from the past few years suggesting that we, as human beings, have a bias toward thinking that other people’s social lives are more exciting than our social lives,” Rios said. “I would think that’s especially the case for students who are living further from campus and have more space to imagine all the cool things that other people are doing.”
Though location was a consideration, personal space was the deciding factor when Melrose was looking for housing.
“Having my own room was the most important thing to me,” Melrose said. “I think sharing a room with someone else can be kind of a hard transition because I have always had my own room.”
Roommates are another crucial consideration in the process of finding housing. Many students arrive on campus to find a random roommate and a hall full of unknown neighbors. Luckily, Rios said there is research to suggest that making friends with these strangers will be easy.
“One of the oldest findings within my field of social psychology is that living in close proximity to other people can help foster interpersonal attraction,” Rios said.
Thus, you’re likely to become friends with your roommates and neighbors. But what happens when things go awry?
Skyeleigh Godowic, sophomore in ACES, went through three different roommates during her first year of college. When she arrived in the fall, she was first placed into temporary housing with a resident adviser in Oglesby Hall.
“It was a bit weird because there was an age gap between me and my roommate, and that’s not typical, usually,” Godowic said. “There were times where I couldn’t be in the room because of confidentiality, and there was definitely more of a barrier. I didn’t feel like I was in my permanent dorm … I felt like I was at a hotel.”
Godowic was moved into Taft Hall after a month, but her new roommate transferred to another dorm when a better opportunity arose. She lived alone for a week before being placed with her third roommate of the year.
This year, Godowic is living in an apartment in Champaign with three friends. She said that having personal space and a healthy relationship with her roommates has made all the difference.
“(We) have a good, better relationship, and we’re working really well together and figuring out boundaries and just having a good time,” Godowic said.
Rios offered advice to students looking for a living situation that supports their well-being.
“Remember that people who are good roommates might not be people that you’re really close friends with,” Rios said. “Think about what makes you comfortable and what’s personally really important to you.”
