Residence Life

Resident Assistant Recruitment

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 01:05:04 GMT

My colleagues in our residence life team are looking for ways to increase the depth of the Resident Assistant application pool. We currently have 70 RAs, which will increase in fall 2020 with a new residence hall coming online. We experience roughly a 50% turnover each year, leaving between 30-40 positions to be filled with an average completed application pool of 50 students.

Most of our RAs are assigned to stand-alone single rooms. In cases where they are assigned to a multiple-occupancy space, they have a single bedroom and are afforded the opportunity to select their roommate. RAs are charged for their room at the first-year room rate, roughly 4% less than the single room rate for an upperclass student who is not an RA. We then provide each RA with a quarterly stipend (taxable benefit) equal to the amount of their room charge. In turn, depending on their financial aid package, they can chose to use the stipend as a payment on their account balance or as a paycheck. RAs are provided with an unlimited meal plan at no cost, $100 Maroon Dollars per quarter to use at campus retail outlets and 5 guest meals per quarter.

I'm curious to learn more about how other institutions have worked to attract a deep, qualified RA candidate pool and welcome your feedback and suggestions.

First Year Residential Experience

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:32:11 GMT

Greetings, colleagues! I am the Area Coordinator for a small, private, liberal arts university in Indiana. Our institution recently designated two buildings as first year halls and we are looking to create a residential experience specific to their needs as first years. While we currently are not on a residential curriculum model, we're interested in that possibility and are currently working to incorporate the Social Change Model for Leadership. We would love to learn from other institutions who have done work on creating first year residential experiences. Any insight you can offer will be greatly appreciated! I know that some folks may want to keep their work close to the chest. I totally understand if that is the case, and we're happy to work with perhaps a series of questions your team asked themselves when deciding what to create for their residents' experience.

You can reach me at cjschrader@manchester.edu
Thanks in advance!

Pet Policy for Live-in Professionals

Fri, 4 Aug 2017 16:39:29 GMT

Howdy everyone!

We are working to get a pet policy here at IWU, but are trying to find some rationales that other institutions have for allowing it. If your institution allows live-in professionals to have pets, why did your institution choose to allow it? Are there any struggles or changes that you all have faced based on the pet policy? Any other information you would like to provide, I will take.

Thank you in advance!

Nick Fink

Agreement/Form for overnight guest(s) under the age of 18

Fri, 9 Dec 2016 00:13:52 GMT

I am curious what some of you do when it comes to allowing overnight guest(s), especially those under the age of 18, to stay on campus. We currently do not have any written form or permission slip. I am looking at this issue primarily from an overnight recruiting visit aspect. I would appreciate any suggestions you want to share.

Thank you,

Bob Turley

Coordinator of Residence Life

Lincoln College

RAs and CPR Training

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 19:10:26 GMT

I'm looking for some information about best practices related to having RAs being CPR certified. I realize the institution I work at does not have the RAs trained in CPR for liability reasons. We are working with the health services department on campus to discuss RA training in the fall and they are asking questions about why this is our practice. Is this what other institutions do? Why or why not?

RA Contracts and Compensation

Fri, 5 Jun 2015 15:35:33 GMT

As your institution responds to increasing demands on their RA staff and from the federal government, how have you addressed the following concerns through your contract and compensation packages? Are there other concerns out there not considered in this list?

Family Obligations (presence at events and/or sending money home or paying for parts of college)
Above Full-time (18 credit hours) Status
Internships
Student Teaching
Additional On/Off-campus Jobs
Extracurricular Activity Limits
Affordable Care Act/University restricting number of hours RAs are allowed to work (and/or requiring a log of hours) - do you forge it, have you hired more staff, have you changed training and/or job requirements?
Compensated through a stipend or hourly wage