Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart University is using an approach to pairing roommates that is so simple, it is almost laughable that every school doesn’t use some version of the service provided at roommateclick.com.  Roommateclick is a service that helps people find roommates, which in the real world is probably just as dicey as finding a roommate on craigslist—it could work, it could not.  But this sort of service seems perfect for colleges.  Incoming students upload profiles and and browse those of other students.  Once two people agree to be roommates, they contact the college, and that’s it.

It is nice to see that universities are making the effort to understand their students and give them options.  Joel Quintong, director of residential life at Sacred Heart, gets it (other than his use of “millenials”).

“We understand millennial students like options and like more control over the educational experience.”

The Youngs are used to having options, and we wont have it any other way.  You are starting to see this more and more in the workplace and its nice to see it filtering down to colleges as well.

On the flip side, there is an argument to be made for colleges choosing roommates for incoming students.  While many people don’t get along with their freshman roommates, living with a stranger teaches you valuable social skills—something us coddled Youngs could use a little more of.

Here is the full article over at Boston.com.