Roommate Agreement Policy
Here in the Office of Residential Services, we realize that most of our students come to us never having shared a room before. Being a roommate and having a roommate(s) for the first time can cause some anxiety. To best assist you as you are developing these new "roommate skills" we have developed a Roommate Agreement Process. This is a concrete tool that can be used both at the beginning of the year and throughout your roommate relationship to set guidelines that will work for you and your roommate(s).
In using this tool, you will be able to easily state your needs and wants with regard to your living situation and your roommate(s) will be able to so as well.
The Roommate Agreement will address such things as:
- Cleaning the room and trash removal
- Study needs
- Guests in the room
- Usage of personal belongings
The best thing is that the Roommate Agreement can be changed at any time to adjust to changing needs and schedules. Students have found these agreements to be effective in addressing concerns and making needed changes.
Resident Advisors will facilitate and guide you through this process during the first two weeks of each school year and then any time after at your request.
Roommate Concerns
Disagreement and conflict between roommates is going to happen regardless of whether you've just met or whether you've known each other for years. When conflict occurs, roommates often either ignore it and hope it will go away or they hope that someone will fix it for them. Often they feel that the best solution is to move out and preferably to get a single.
In the Office of Residential Services we work with students to help them develop skills to manage and resolve conflict so that the same problems don't occur in future relationships. We see conflict as an opportunity for growth and improved communication skills. Therefore we utilize the following steps when dealing with conflict between roommates:
Step 1:
Roommate Agreement is re-negotiated. The Resident Advisor will assist if needed.
Step 2:
If conflict is not resolved by Step 1, the roommates will meet with their RA and another staff member to do a formal mediation between the roommates, the outcome of which will be a more formal and specific agreement.
Step 3:
If conflict is not resolved by above, the roommates will meet with our Assistant Director to determine if further mediation is necessary or if a room change is warranted. Please note: room changes can only occur if space is available.
