Duke’s 3-year on-campus housing rule unique among peers

While many college students look for apartments in their sophomore year, Duke students return to their dorms.

Unlike many of its peer institutions, Duke requires students to live on campus for three years before allowing them to move off campus. Administrators say that this rule creates a stronger sense of community, but students are divided about whether limiting students’ options improves or detracts from their undergraduate experience.

“You come on as a freshman and East Campus is kind of your gig, then you move to Central or West as a second-year, and you’re in a new community—it’s your turn to start filling into your own person on Duke’s campus,” said senior Max Schreiber. “Then in your fourth year you’re starting to really learn how to live on your own. I love it because you get different tastes of life at Duke all four years.”

Some students emphasized that their involvement at Duke decreased substantially in their final year.

“I live off campus right now, and I only come to campus when I can get free parking, when I have class or when I need to come to the library,” said senior Rosie Williams. “Otherwise you will not find me here.”

Many schools—such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—explicitly define exceptions to on-campus requirements for married students, veterans, single parents, people who live within a close radius of the school and students over the age of 21, but Duke does not.

“I’m not aware of any standing exemptions to living on campus,” said Joe Gonzalez, dean of residential life. “Particularly that first year, the experience is so critical of living with your class from the first day and really starting that sense of affiliation.”

Some students do attempt to get around the housing requirement, he said, but these requests are rarely granted.

At the eight Ivy League institutions, students are required to live on campus for an average of 1.3 years. Yale University, Brown University and Princeton University each require two years, and Harvard University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania each require one year. Dartmouth University requires three semesters and Cornell University has no requirements, per these universities’ housing websites. UNC requires students to live on campus if they have not yet earned a certain threshold of credit hours.

Yale in particular is known for its residential college system, in which students are assigned to a college their freshman year and remain affiliated with it throughout their undergraduate experience.

The on-campus requirement helps Greek organizations encourage participation and a sense of community, said Schreiber, president of the Interfraternity Council. He noted that members of the same pledge class would miss out on the opportunity to live together if sophomores were allowed to live off campus.

Some students question the policy’s effectiveness in creating a unified cohort, in that Central Campus feels more like an off-campus experience than an on-campus one.

“This on/off campus divide needs to be rethought to think about Central Campus, because East and West are very inclusive campuses, but Central is much more similar to off-campus housing,” said senior Emma Smith. “If we’re going to have this requirement for you to live on campus for three years, what is on-campus?”

The cost of living in an air-conditioned double on East or West Campus is $4,003 per semester, or about $1,000 per month. There are currently 14 housing options with a rent of less than $1,000 per month that are within 0.5 miles of West, Central or East, according to Duke’s off-campus housing locator website.

“Durham is skyrocketing with prices in regards to rent, and you have to have a car to get around,” Williams said. “I think it will be harder as Durham progresses to find cheap options that won’t cost you a ton of gas.”

Gonzalez added that having students live on campus gives administrators more opportunities to interact with students.

“It makes my job wonderful,” he said. “It gives me a wonderful opportunity to impact the lives of our students. Knowing they’re going to be living here for three years gives me a very heavy responsibility to make sure the environment is one that truly supports their success here.”

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