The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

Returning study abroad students scattered

Hundreds of University of Richmond students spent an amazing semester studying and traveling abroad. But now it is back to reality.

With an increase in first-year students by about 100, housing on campus has become a concern, especially for students coming back from a fall semester abroad.

Including the apartments, 2,763 students can be housed on campus, said Carolyn Bigler, the assistant director for undergraduate student housing, but this number does not include the dormitory lounges that were converted to rooms.

"I'm not sure that study-abroad students are truly realistic about what might be available as an assignment when they return," Bigler said.

She said the hardest request to fulfill for study abroad students was for them to return and live with a friend who also studied abroad.

Any apartment or suite that emptied out was converted to a female room in order to accommodate the large number of female students who studied abroad during the fall, Bigler said.

She also said that converted lounges in the residence halls allowed study abroad women to be together with their friends. Jordan Wolfinger, a junior returning from studying abroad in Australia, lives with her friend in a lounge in Moore Hall.

"If I had high expectations, I'd probably be disappointed," Wolfinger said. "But I had no expectations, so this is great."

The university is also using a house it owns on Bostwick Lane — not far from the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business — to house female students returning from abroad.

Amy Nicholas, a junior returning from studying in Italy, is one of the seven Westhampton College students living in the house on Bostwick Lane.

She said she was surprised by the work that the university put into making the house usable, because they could have easily thrown them off-campus or given them the house and said that they were on their own. The students living in the house can still use services on campus and have a meal plan, Nicholas said.

Bigler said the Bostwick House was considered on-campus housing.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

No one was forced off campus, Bigler said. She said the university opened with vacancies this semester.

This semester, 199 women and 123 men returned from studying abroad and of these students, 32 women and 27 men are housed off-campus, Bigler said.

Junior Julia Pepe, who returned this semester from Spain, said she chose to move off campus because she had predicted that she would not be getting a great living situation.

Pepe said she worried about parking — she has already received two tickets — and figuring out who would drive, especially if there was alcohol involved.

She said she would definitely be living on campus next year because she only had one more year to live on a college campus.

"There's something to be said about living with your entire class." Pepe said. "It's more of an experience."

The housing assignments for returning males differed from the females' assignments.

"[Returning men] had no apartments, no suites, no empty rooms to speak of," Bigler said. "They really did get split up."

One Richmond College student returning from abroad said he had originally been placed with two sophomore roommates whom he did not know.

The men worked out a compromise that allowed him and his friends to live together, he said. He asked not to be named because the change was unofficial.

The RC student said he initially had not been very happy with housing, but that he understood the difficult position the school officials were put in.

Phil Handler, a junior returning from Scotland, is living in a University Forest Apartment with three seniors he had not met before, even though living in an apartment had not been any of his three choices.

"I'm not really, like, upset about it because their options were kind of limited ... I can sort of sympathize," Handler said.

Handler said he would have preferred to live with friends but it was better than living in a freshman dormitory.

Steve Bisese, vice president for student development, said he applauded the people coming back from study abroad for having the experience and for working with them to be able to make the most out of the housing situation during the spring.

Bigler said that if women continued to study abroad in these numbers, there would come a year when the women would not be able to live with their friends and might be assigned to first-year halls, which has happened in the past.

Bisese said, "I think it's a sign of just a healthy institution to be so full that people want to be here and want to live on campus."

Contact staff writer Michelle Guerrere at michelle.guerrere@richmond.edu

Support independent student media

You can make a tax-deductible donation by clicking the button below, which takes you to our secure PayPal account. The page is set up to receive contributions in whatever amount you designate. We look forward to using the money we raise to further our mission of providing honest and accurate information to students, faculty, staff, alumni and others in the general public.

Donate Now