By Maggie Raker
Like many Roanoke College students, I was handed a “Roommate Agreement” this week. The contract-like paper was kindly provided by Residence Life & Housing and is thorough and efficient. Yet, I found myself truly considering the sheet for the first time. Like many friends, I haven’t always taken roommate agreements seriously. Now I’m assessing how that may have made my past rooming arrangements more difficult. How can a detailed roommate agreement help you avoid difficulty in the future?
These considerations are the essential purpose of a roommate agreement. At Roanoke College our roommate agreements give 5 major categories for consideration: Communication, guests/visitors/room use, study/sleep time, use of belongings, and cleanliness & climate of the room. They’re a good place to start, and you should feel comfortable using them as a launch point for other, more specific conversations that may be important to you.
Communication includes questions about problem-solving and background differences. Hopefully, you’re enjoying the company of your roommate right now, but it’s not unreasonable to imagine at some point in the year one of you might become frustrated with the other. It’s normal. It’s expected. Planning now might be the best way to avoid prolonging or escalating that situation.
The next category, guests & room use, is about who will be in the room when, and doing what. This might seem obvious to you, but people across campus use their dorms in a variety of different ways. Not only that but with classes and clubs just now amping up, your ideas about how much dorm time you need may be changing. Don’t be afraid to revisit the conversation.
Study and sleep time, if nothing else, is a good place to start. It’s a series of questions you probably have answers to, like when you usually go to sleep, and it can also help you get to know your roommate better. The same can be said for the use of belongings, and the cleanliness and climate of the room. All these things are important. These 3 sections, in particular, are probably things you’ve thought about before you’ve moved into a dorm. What do you do back home? Would that work here too?
If nothing else, start a conversation with your roommate. A school year is a long time, and you deserve to feel comfortable in your room. Now’s the time to work to make that happen for yourself.
