Roommate "found someone better" and moved out. What can we do?

nynightowl
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 22:03:55 +0000

At some schools what OP’s brother has is called a ‘dingle’ - it’s a double that has become a single by virtue of one roommate moving out and it’s a highly desirable room. Most kids would love a dingle. Even very social students appreciate having some small private space at college, where everything else is public/shared. And even kids who are close with their roommates recognize that living with another person and having to negotiate spared space is always more challenging than having your own room. When the perceived insult wears off, I bet this student ends up reveling in his space and freedom.

One of my kids got very sick (with what turned out to be giardia from a hiking trip) during a weekend early in her freshman year. Despite having a roommate and 4 more suitemates, she laid on the bathroom floor throwing up (etc!) for hours before anyone ever found her. Eventually the health center was called, they took her to the ER and it was fine and well handled. But at no point did the roommate ever show up - just noting that having a roommate is not a really good health insurance policy, and probably someone with a chronic condition needs a pager or other provision.