"Private" Dorms-regional self-segregation?

Marian
Thu, 10 May 2007 07:45:53 +0000

My son lives in the kind of place you’re talking about at the University of Maryland. This one is actually more of an apartment building than a dorm, but it’s private yet vaguely connected to the university.

There are indeed a lot of out-of-staters there (you can tell by the license plates in the parking garage), but I think that’s a matter of money rather than geographic segregation. The place is more expensive than some of the other off-campus housing options, and out-of-staters in general tend to be on the affluent side (you have to have money in order to pay out-of-state tuition).

But the kids who live in this place are all upperclassmen. Everybody lived in the dorms as freshmen, and I think that’s a good idea. Maryland has a lot of special programs for freshmen in which the people in a program live together in the dorms. It’s a good way to meet people who share your interests, and it helps to make a huge campus smaller.