When I arrived on campus as a freshman, my parents said shoving my belongings into a tiny room I would be sharing with another person was a rite of passage.

I took one look at the bathrooms down the hall in Colby Hall and started a countdown till Thanksgiving of when I would be able to sleep in my own bed again. But on-campus housing offers a community and a culture I’ve grown to love. Three years later, I’m still living on campus and loving it.

Thinking back to freshman year, it’s hard to imagine the tables turned, where dozens of upperclassmen desperately want to live on campus but had no place to go. Being turned away by Housing & Residence Life after an impersonal, lottery-style room assignment process feels like a betrayal for the upperclassmen who wanted to live on campus next year, but who did not receive an assignment.

Whether it’s for safety reasons, convenience or a desire to be closer to the university atmosphere, students have every reason to want to live on campus, and the university should embrace it. Housing & Residence Life should be doing everything in its power to keep this enthusiasm alive.

Building additional residence halls or purchasing additional apartment housing, like the GrandMarc, are essential to keeping the identity of the campus alive.

TCU has invested so much in a new student union and a beautiful main campus — why not let everyone enjoy it?

Web editor Andrea Drusch for the editorial board.