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New Stephens Policy Requires Students to Live on Campus

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 00:00 CST

By Terry Ganey, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Jan. 16--Stephens College has instituted a new housing policy that requires students to live on campus for four years. The policy applies to those who began their college careers in the fall of 2005.

A three-year residency requirement applies to other Stephens students. Those who reach senior standing and have a grade point average of 2.4 or better may still apply to live off campus.

Deb Duren, vice president of student services, said Stephens' history shows it has been a residential campus and the new policy returns to that tradition. "We really feel like living on campus is a real plus," she said. "There are a lot of things that you can learn from living with people who you go to school with."

She said there are about 100 students living off campus, while about 400 live in Stephens' residential halls. Duren said statistics indicated that students who live off campus are less likely to earn a degree than those living on campus.

"We think we will increase the level of success if they live on campus than if they live off campus," she said.

Duren added that there are students who, after deciding to live off campus, change their minds and come back on campus because of problems with the private housing rental system.

"There are good landlords out there, and there are not-so-good ones," Duren said.

Stephens recently announced plans to remodel two residential facilities, Columbia Hall and Wood Hall. Once those structures are completed, expected by the fall of 2007, they would accommodate about 150 students.

Duren said it was probably cheaper for a student to live off campus. She added that one byproduct of the policy was to help keep the college's residences occupied.

The policy change is likely to have a very small effect on what is already a soft student rental housing market, said Joe Callahan, co-owner of Callahan and Galloway, a property management company.

"In my 20 years of experience, this is probably the softest market we've ever had," Callahan said. "A lot of property owners and management companies have seen this coming."

He said landlords are dealing with the situation by trying to retain tenants with lowered or static rental rates and better services.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

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Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

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