Students hoping to move off-campus may have to put their plans on hold because of new changes from the housing department.
One of the most controversial changes to the housing policy is likely the amended age requirement. Now, a student’s age does not matter. Whereas, in the past, a student had to be 21 years old to move off of campus – unless they had approved extenuating circumstances.
Instead, the requirement has moved from age to credit hours. A student must now have acquired at least 95 credit hours in order to be eligible to move off-campus.
“I know in my major I only need 121 credits. With the requirement being 95 credits, I’ll nearly be graduated by the time I’d even be considered for moving off campus,” said Aisling Carbery-Shaha, a freshman elementary education major from DeRidder.
The policy was revised in February.
Camile Currier, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, said in an email, the University is helping current students with the transition.
The requirements will be in full swing for this fall’s incoming class.
“Keeping more students in the dorms longer and having new students constantly coming in only adds up to running out of space for us,” said Raquel Garza, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major from Pineville.
Another change is that students who graduated from high school at least four years ago are eligible to move off-campus.
This change was intended to help students who may not have started college right after high school, according to Currier.
One of the last major changes to the policy is that students coming from certain selected parishes are exempt from having to live on-campus.
Previously, this rule stated that students must have a permanent residence within a 50-mile radius of ULM in order to life off-campus.
Additional changes to the policy can be viewed by going to the Residential Life website and clicking on the “Housing Exemptions” link, which provides the complete policy.