KYW News Radio - September 22, 2010
KYW News Radio
If your college student is miserable living on campus, calling it "boring and lonely," he or she has a lot of company. The days of communal bathrooms and open dorm rooms, with students rushing in and out meeting everyone on the floor, are gone. Now, students live in suites behind closed doors with faces pressed to their laptops, chatting on Facebook or through texting. Laura Randolph, assistant director for residential life at Temple, says parents can help by asking questions: "'Do you know anything about your roommate?' Or better yet, 'Have you met someone on your floor?' And if all the answers are, 'I don't really know my roommate,' 'We're not getting along,' then, 'Have you met your resident advisor?' The RA is a great conduit for meeting others on the floor." She said universities are trying to get students out of their rooms, offering trips off campus and to events, to force them to socialize.