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First Year students at Georgia Southern are required to live in on-campus housing unless they qualify for an exemption. To get more information, visit the First Year Live-On Policy. We have listed some of our top reasons why we feel like living on campus is a vital part of the Georgia Southern collegiate experience.

You鈥檒l make friends 鈥� and memories. It鈥檚 easy to make friends when you live on campus, because you are constantly around students who are just like you.  Your hall will have a RA (Resident Advisor), who are students here to mentor you, help you make friends and provide you with fun programs.

Having a roommate prepares you for life.  In addition to making friends, having a roommate is vital to the college experience.  Even if you think you鈥檒l never have a roommate again in the future, the roommate experience will give you vital skills in conflict management and compromise that will be beneficial in your personal and work life after college.

You鈥檒l likely make BETTER GRADES. Why? At Georgia Southern, many halls are reserved for first year students so you can easily find support in your studies through in-hall tutors, study rooms, and the ability to find others taking the same classes to study and work on classes with. Many of our services and programs in the residence halls are designed to target your interests and your academic development. Professors are likely to visit the halls and present programs in which you have expressed interest. Some halls have computer labs and offer tutoring while others offer more intensive study environments by offering 24-hour quiet hours.

Value for your money. Once you factor in all of the benefits to living on campus, it is typically less expensive than living off campus. You do not have to worry about monthly budgeting to pay for rent, telephone, or utility bills. One payment at the beginning of the semester pays for everything. This will be very helpful to you once you get involved in campus activities and  in your academics 鈥� bills will be one less thing you have to worry about.  Housing fees include cable television, internet connection, garbage, water, sewer, electricity, and laundry within it鈥檚 rate.

You鈥檒l get involved. By living on campus, you will always be informed about what is happening on campus and about various opportunities for you to develop your leadership, communication, and decision-making skills. Being a leader on campus will prepare you for success in your future career as well as motivate you to be an involved citizen in your community. Leadership roles are available for freshman as well as upperclassmen. You can be involved in hall governance, community service, hall employment, and much more!

You鈥檒l love the location. When you live on campus, you live at the center of all that Georgia Southern offers. Your classes, recreational facilities, cultural and sporting events will all be within walking or biking distance.  Whether you need help with your schoolwork or you鈥檙e looking to receive some career advice, all of these offices can be found on campus.  Don鈥檛 forget that you already paid for these resources with your tuition and fees so make sure you get the full benefit of them.

Independent living but resources abound. Living on your own can be a little daunting.  Not only do you get a chance to experience new freedoms, but you can learn how to live on your own and grow independently from the influences of others.  Housing options at Georgia Southern offers a great blend of amenities, policies, and support to help students grow and prepare for living independently in the future.

You鈥檒l feel safer. Hall entrances are locked 24 hours a day; and University Police patrol the campus 24 hours a day and offer students free escort officers for walking across campus after dark.  Emergency call stations and other safety resources are abundant on campus to assist students who need support from Public Safety.

You鈥檒l get more out of your college experience! National research reports find that students who live on campus make higher grades than peers who live off campus, are more likely to stay in college and graduate, are more likely to join extracurricular activities, and are more satisfied with their overall college experience.

For a comprehensive costs and affordability analysis, please visit the Cost of Attendance page.

One of the most beneficial aspects of living in the residence hall is your potential relationship with your roommate. This relationship does not develop on its own. A positive relationship requires some investment of time and energy by you. Learning to live with someone that you may have just met or even someone who you may have known for years can be a challenging and rewarding experience.

Requesting a Roommate

It is not necessary to request a specific roommate.  As a matter of fact, meeting and living with someone new could turn out to be rewarding.  If you would like to request a specific roommate, you may do so by using our online application process for each campus.  Roommate requests must be mutually confirmed by each individual.  If you decide that you do not want a specific roommate, you will be assigned one using matching criteria that you answer as part of the housing application process.

Once assigned your roommate information will be available in the housing application portal.  Please use that page to learn about your new roommate and reach out to them to introduce yourself.

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Benefits of having a Roommate

• You will have someone to go places with and to try different activities on campus.
• You will always have someone to talk to.
• You will get to know someone who you will never forget and who you may be friends with for years to come .
• You will learn a lot about yourself and how to adapt to various situations.
• You will learn how to make compromises.
• You will possibly have someone to study with.

The experience of living with a roommate is not one that you will soon forget. Your roommate relationship can be one of the best experiences that you have while in college. The conversations that you will have, the things you will learn about yourself and each other, the times that you will share, and the memories that you will make will be ones that you will be able to look back on and smile.

There are a few things that you need to take into consideration when living with a roommate. All roommates have the same basic rights in their room and these basic rights will be the first that the Residence Life Staff will uphold if there is a conflict. Discuss these rights with your roommate and determine how each of you interprets these rights and what will need to occur in the room to ensure these basic rights are met for ALL students in the room.

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How to be a Good Roommate

Contact your roommate(s) prior to moving in.  Get to know each other and determine who will bring what on move-in day.  Bring only half of what you need for the first three to four weeks of the semester and plan to be flexible and open to your new roommate(s).  Part of living with someone is the ability to compromise. Even if you have known someone for years, but never lived together, you will learn some new things.  Here are some useful rules of the road.

1. Complete a roommate agreement (see the next section regarding roommate agreements).
2. Be honest with your roommate and let them know when something may be bothering you.
3. Your roommate has a right to read, study, and sleep just like you do.  Try to keep noise, guests, and other distractions to a minimum.
4. Don鈥檛 borrow your roommate鈥檚 stuff without asking.
5. Personal space is personal space.  Respect your roommate鈥檚 privacy.
6. Many of our units have common area spaces such as a living room and kitchen.  Try to keep your personal effects in your room or tidy in the common spaces so that they don鈥檛 interfere with others.
7. Keep it clean.  Regular cleaning and setting up a schedule of cleaning will help reduce roommate disputes.
8. Make sure your guests know and follow the rules you and your roommates have established.
9. If a roommate conflict should arise, your Resident Advisor can use the roommate agreement to mediate the situation.

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What is a Roommate Agreement

Residence hall staff members are available for assistance in settling conflicts. There is also an official contract known as a 鈥淩oommate Agreement鈥� that acts as an extension of the 精东 Student Conduct Code. Residence Life Staff will assist you in deciding on the terms of this agreement. There are several areas of concern that are addressed in the Roommate Agreement that you may want to discuss with your roommate before conflict arises.

1. Cleanliness of shared area(s) (This may include bedroom, kitchen, living room, or bathroom)
2. Guests (How long they are welcome, when they are welcome, who is welcome, etc.)
3. Using roommate鈥檚 personal items (What is appropriate, ask prior to use, replace used items, etc.)
4. Study Time (When do you each of you study, what sort of background 鈥榥oise鈥� is appropriate, etc.)
5. Communication (How to communicate with each other, where notes should be left, will you take messages for each other, etc.)
6. Music and other types of noise (What type, how loud, when is appropriate, etc.)
7. Sleeping habits (Are you early morning/late night, can you sleep with lights/TV/music on, etc.)

Your roommate relationship, as stated, can be one of the more positive aspects of your residence hall living experience! Your roommate may become a resource, someone to talk with, someone to attend events with, or someone to hang out and have fun with. Even though you and your roommate may be completely different, this relationship can be and should be a positive one. The key to this relationship is communication, patience, flexibility, caring, and understanding!

Being a student isn鈥檛 always easy. We have put together some helpful hints to assist you in some common university-student problems. By no means do we cover every problem you may encounter and not every tip on this page will work for everyone. The most important advice we can give you when you encounter personal or class related problems, is to talk to someone. There are people, including University staff, around who will be more than happy to help.

Stress and You

With everything you have to think about on a daily basis, stress will affect you. Below are a few ideas to help you avoid negative stress and to help make stress more manageable.

How To Lessen Stress

• Avoid alcohol
  • Alcohol is a depressant that only masks the symptoms of stress. Over use or abuse of alcohol does not reduce stress.
• Avoid drugs
  • Drugs affect your mind and body lessening your ability to cope effectively with day to day life.
• Avoid overwork
  • Constant study or work can make you more tense and irritable.
    Schedule in some recreational time and relaxation time.
• Manage stress
  • Manage your meals
    Eat right; a balanced diet with few sugary snacks can help. Sugar gives you an initial, but short-lived burst of energy, but acts as a depressant later.
  • Manage your exercise
    Plan to exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes. Exercise helps clear your mind and renew your energy.
  • Manage your sleep
    Most of us need 7 to 8 hours. The right amount of sleep keeps you alert, less irritable and more in control.
  • Manage your pace
    A change of pace can relieve tension. Take time to relax or to try new things. Do something you enjoy!
• Avoid panic
  • Excessive worry or panic just increases an already high stress level. Try to pace your work so you鈥檙e not overloaded at one time. If you find yourself overloaded try to do one thing at a time and do the best you can.
  • Accept time constraints and work with them.
• Manage test anxiety
  • Be prepared
    Ask the instructor what will be covered on the exam.
  • Review your notes
    Recall facts by reciting them out loud. Try to predict and answer possible test questions.
  • Relax
    Enjoy 10-15 minutes of peace and quiet. Tighten then relax muscle groups.
  • Master test-taking skills
    Read all directions. Survey the exam to see what types of questions there are; will some count more than others?
    Budget your time.
    Outline answers for essay questions.
    Work on only one question at a time.
    Mark difficult items and return to them later.
    Concentrate on the test.
    Keep a positive attitude.

Resources

Counseling and Career Development Center

The Georgia Southern Counseling Center offers many services and workshops to help students. Click  for more information.

Living in a residence hall and with a roommate can be very a very rewarding experience, but does not come without its inherent occasional problems. You, as a student living on campus, have several very important rights that are to be respected at all times during your residence hall experience. You are also expected to respect these rights as related to your roommates and neighbors.

All residence hall students have the right to:

• Sleep and study free from undue interference in one鈥檚 room. Unreasonable noise, guests, and other distractions inhibit the exercise of this right.
• Expect that a roommate will respect one鈥檚 personal belongings.
• A clean environment in which to live.
• Free access to one鈥檚 room and facilities without pressure from a roommate.
• Privacy.
• Be free from fear of intimidation, physical and/or emotional harm.
• Expect cooperation in the use of 鈥渞oom-shared鈥� appliances and a commitment to honor agreed upon payment procedures.
• Be free from peer pressure or ridicule if one鈥檚 lifestyle choices differ from a roommate鈥檚.
• Have redress of grievances.

Personal safety and the safety of your belongings and those around you are very important to the Department of University Housing. Specific instructions and hints to help keep you as safe as possible are outlined below. Remember, ultimately safety is your responsibility 鈥� be smart.

The safety of our on-campus residents is of great importance to us. Because of this, all residents living in the residence hall are issued a key to their room as well as one to their building. Individuals not residing in that particular building do not have access to it unless a resident of that building escorts them.

University Housing has an escort policy in which residents and their guests, including family members and other relatives, must be accompanied by an escort who is a resident of the hall at all times. This helps to ensure the safety of residents in their halls.

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Fire Safety

To acquaint residents with a fast and orderly means of exit during an emergency, evacuation drills are conducted periodically each semester. Everyone is required to leave the building each time the alarm sounds. Failure to leave the building when the fire alarm is sounded will result in judicial action. The apartments, bedrooms, and common areas are equipped with protection systems, including fire alarms and fire sprinklers.

Evacuation procedures

• Refer to the evacuation plan in your room.
• Turn off all lights, televisions, etc. except for the ceiling light, and raise the blinds.
• Stay beneath smoke. If necessary crawl out.
• Close the door of the room or area of the fire.
• Exit the building via the designated fire exits.

Upon discovery of a fire

• Pull the nearest fire alarm and call 9-911.
• Notify a staff member.
• If you feel safe using a fire extinguisher, attempt to extinguish the fire.

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Cooking Safety

University Police hosts cooking and basic kitchen safety classes in Windward Commons. All first-year residents are required to participate in this class prior to using the kitchens in Windward Commons. All residents are welcome to attend.

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Tornado Safety

Tornado 鈥渨eather鈥� is usually a hot sticky day with southerly winds and a threatening, ominous sky. Clouds are often a greenish-black color.

Tornado Watch means weather conditions are suitable for a tornado.

Tornado Warning means a tornado has been indicated on radar or has actually been sighted.

In the event of a tornado warning, Georgia Southern has an emergency horn that will sound. When you hear this horn leave your room and close the door. Walk to the lowest level hallway and wait there until you receive an all clear signal from a staff member before returning to your room. Tornado drills are conducted once a semester to acquaint residents with the emergency procedures used in the event of a tornado.

During a Tornado

• Close the blinds, and stay away from the windows.
• Close but do not lock the door.
• Walk to the lowest level hallway and wait for an all-clear signal from a Staff member before returning to your room.

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Hurricane Safety

All residents are responsible for their own evacuation plan in the event of a university closure. In the event of an evacuation, you may be required to check out of the residence halls with hall staff. More information will be provided to students at the start of the semester.

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Personal Safety

Here are some important tips to protect yourself in the halls, around campus and in town.

In the hall:

• Lock your door; when you leave to keep your valuables safe; when you sleep to keep yourself safe.
• Know the emergency evacuation procedures for your building; be familiar with the location of fire extinguisher and emergency exits.
• Memorize emergency numbers.
• Follow health and safety regulations listed in your Student Conduct Code.
• Do not prop doors; if you can get in through a propped door, so can an unwelcome intruder.

Around campus or in town

• Avoid walking alone at night; take a friend if you must go.
• Look alert; eliminate the potential attacker鈥檚 element of surprise.
• Call Night Escort Services at 478-5234 between 6 p.m. & 2 a.m. for an escort anywhere on campus.
• Carry your keys in your hand; this helps avoid fumbling in the dark. Keys carried in your fist, one between each pair of fingers can be used as a weapon.
• Vary your daily patterns; some attackers stalk their victims, knowing just where and when to strike. Keep them confused.
• Pay attention to your surroundings. Where is the best lighted route? Where can you run for help if necessary?

If you are attacked

• Keep your wits about you as best you can. Sometimes struggling can save you; sometimes it can antagonize the attacker.
• Consider passive resistance; try talking to your attacker in a calm manner.
• Report any attack to Public Safety or to a Staff member.
• Seek medical attention if necessary.

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Protecting Your Car

• Always try to park your car in a lighted area.
• Use your trunk to keep valuables in your car.
• Lock your car before you leave it.

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Personal Property

Renter鈥檚 Insurance

University Housing and Georgia Southern do not provide residents with insurance coverage for their belongings for either damage or theft. Students are strongly encouraged to obtain coverage for their personal belongings either with either a renter鈥檚 insurance policy or to see if their parent鈥檚 homeowners insurance provides them coverage at school.

Many policies include coverage for items outside rooms (e.g. laptops) and coverage can often continue if a student moves off-campus to another housing facility.

Liability Insurance

University Housing also strongly advises students to carry coverage for damage done to their room or other campus facilities in the event that they are found responsible for damages to the room or other common spaces. In the past, students have been held responsible for fire and water damages that have been the result of either accident or negligence. For example: when a student has left an item on the stove and that caused a fire that damaged their and other residence hall units. Many renters鈥� policies do not automatically provide coverage for this kind of loss and the student can be personally responsible, so please be sure to check your policy.

In 2010-2011, students in the Georgia Southern residence halls were billed over $37,000 for damages to university property caused by their actions or negligence

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For more information about safety on campus, please visit the Office of Public Safety.

University Housing and Georgia Southern does not provide residents with insurance coverage for their belongings for either damage or theft. Students are strongly encouraged to obtain coverage for their personal belongings with either a renter鈥檚 insurance policy or should investigate to see if their parent鈥檚 homeowners insurance provides them coverage at school.  Many policies include coverage for items outside rooms (e.g. laptops) and coverage can often continue if a student moves off-campus to another housing facility.

University Housing also strongly advises students to carry coverage for damage done to their room or other campus facilities in the event that they are found responsible for damages to the room or other common spaces. In the past, students have been held responsible for fire and water damages that have been the result of either accident or negligence. For example: when a student has left an item on the stove and that caused a fire that damaged their and other residence hall units. Many renters鈥� policies do not automatically provide coverage for this kind of loss and the student can be personally responsible, so please be sure to check your policy.