During the college years, most students leave a fairly safe and predictable personal and intellectual world for a new, and sometimes, frightening one, wrought with challenges — and opportunities! Living on campus puts them ’at the center of it all!’

There is a great deal of research devoted to the benefits of living on campus. Most prominently, it can positively shape a student’s values and beliefs (aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual values). It influences a positive shift toward more inclusive racial-ethnic attitudes and an openness to diversity broadly defined. (Pascarella and Terenzini,2005).

Social interaction in residence halls and other student life venues has been attributed with “the kind of relational learning that has a transformative impact on students’ lives” (Bonfigilo, 2004).

Student development theory and research from higher education grounds our program and informs our work. It shapes the learning outcomes that we intentionally create to assist residents to grow and to learn—outside of the classroom—about themselves, the world and the communities of which they are a part.

Our students are amazing! They teach us every day. They think deeply about ideas, values and goals. They experiment with interpersonal relationships, wondering where they ’fit in’ and how they will make a difference in the world. Our most significant goal then, is to support them as they find these answers while making sure that their ’home’ is safe, well-maintained and a stimulating a place to grow and explore.

University Housing Services strives to foster a physical and social environment that facilitates learning, promotes citizenship and builds community. As professionals, we strive to find a balance between nurturing and challenging, rights and responsibilities, individualism and community. It isn’t always easy in light of the diversity and complexity of today’s students’ but it is truly rewarding. We must acknowledge and anticipate the developmental stages through which most of our students will travel. We must find creative ways to honor and address, for example, each student’s inherent desire to push toward ‘autonomy and mastery’ while challenging them to take responsibility for their intellectual and personal lives and the community in which they live. As a result, our professional and paraprofessional staff are often mentors, coaches, advisors, tutors, guides, confidantes, sounding boards, and sometimes disciplinarians—supporting our residents as they master the challenges, stresses, and tension inherent in the college experience. In this context, we shape the residential environment and student growth opportunities through intentional programming, policies and procedures, and yes, even disciplinary codes of conduct. Living on campus at SJSU is many things. But mostly, we hope it is about, Living, Learning, and Belonging!