Life With A Roommate

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.

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.
• You will have someone to help care for you when you are sick.

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 Education 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 BOTH students in the room.

Roommate Conflicts

Residence hall staff members are available for assistance in settling conflicts. There is also an official contract known as a "Roommate Agreement" that acts as an extension of the Georgia Southern University Student Conduct Code. Residence Education 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. Phone/Internet usage (This includes appropriate times to receive phone calls, how long phone calls may last, how long internet usage can last, etc.)
3. Guests (How long they are welcome, when they are welcome, who is welcome, etc.)
4. Using roommate's personal items (What is appropriate, ask prior to use, replace used items, etc.)
5. Study Time (When do you each of you study, what sort of background 'noise' is appropriate, etc.)
6. Communication (How to communicate with each other, where notes should be left, will you take messages for each other, etc.)
7. Music and other types of noise (What type, how loud, when is appropriate, etc.)
8. 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!