Housing Intent Forms DUE MONDAY!!!

All current residents are required to turn in a Housing Intent Form by Monday, February 2, at 4:30pm, to the Office Housing and Residential Life. This Intent Form states whether or not the student plans to return to campus housing in Fall 2009. Here's a quick breakdown of the process that was communicated to our residents:

• BY 4:30PM ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2009, TURN IN THE HOUSING INTENT FORM to the Office of Housing and Residential Life; this form is due whether or not you are returning to campus housing. If the form is not returned, your $150 security deposit will be forfeited.
• BY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN EMAIL WITH YOUR ASSIGNED DATE AND TIME FOR ROOM SIGN-UP.
• ON FEBRUARY 19, 20, OR 21, ATTEND ROOM SIGN-UP to get an actual housing assignment.
• IF YOU CANNOT MAKE YOUR ASSIGNED DATE AND TIME FOR ROOM SIGN-UP, COMPLETE A PROXY FORM—if you’re signing up with a group, have a group member turn in your Proxy Form and choose your space; if you’re signing up as an individual, turn the Proxy Form in to ResLife by February 18; if you are studying abroad in Spring 2009, you must complete a Proxy Form.
• DURING ROOM SIGN-UP, YOU WILL SIGN A HOUSING CONTRACT FOR 2009-2010—if you have to send in a Proxy Form for your Room Sign-Up appointment, your signed housing contract is due February 27; if you will be studying abroad in Spring 2009, your signed housing contract is due via fax or mail by March 13.
• IF YOU CHOOSE TO CANCEL THE HOUSING CONTRACT after you have signed it, follow this link to see a list of cancellation charges: http://www.webster.edu/housing/cancellationcharges.shtml

Roller Coaster of College: Initial Adjustment and Mental Isolation

This post comes from a guest blogger: Sarah Tetley, Assistant Director of Housing and Residential Life at Webster University

Your student’s transition in college is like a roller coaster...how to help them on the ride of their life...Part Three: Initial Adjustment and Mental Isolation Phases

In August and September, you were introduced to the W-Curve. This is a model that tracks a student's transition to college. We have seen the ups and downs of the honeymoon and culture shock phases. Now it’s time to learn about the next two phases: Initial Adjustment and Mental Isolation.

Initial Adjustment (Between Thanksgiving & Christmas Break)
Most of the time new students start to get into the swing of things and start to use their own personal values and opinions to make decisions, and begin to feel a kind success in their decisions. They start to learn the routine and start to feel more adjusted and connected to the university community. Conflicts and challenges will still come and go (especially during high stress times) but the students begin to feel they have a better understanding of how to handle such issues.

How you can help them with this part of their transition:

• Reinforce how proud of them you are, and share how much you’ve seen them grow in just the last few months.


• Listen to their stories, let them share with you the decisions they have made and how they’ve processed through them on their own. Ask good questions that can help them continue to make good solid decisions on their own.

Mental Isolation (Returning from Break, Mid-Second Semester, Before Spring Break)
Then the students go home for an extended break. They go home to a world that they knew for the majority of their life, and try to bring with them their identity and experiences from their new life. Talk about being caught in between two worlds. The new college life is not as comfortable as home, but is becoming a more shaped picture of who they want to be.

“The initial euphoria of the entrance into the university dissolves as the realities of campus life surface. Not all professors are friendly and helpful, not all living – group peers are potential friends, and everything is not as great as the publicity brochures and admissions staff may have indicated. Questions of doubt regarding the decision to attend the institution may surface as the realities of first year grades and test scores take over.”

The home life begins to be unfamiliar, just as they have changed while they were at school; things at home were changing as well. Sometimes students get quite a shock to find out that a decision was made without them that they would have been a part of if they were still active in their home life and its day-to-day-routine. They may begin to feel distant from friends from home. They begin to feel homesick for something that doesn’t exist anymore.

How you can help them with this part of their transition:

• Talk with them about their semester as a whole, what went well, what didn’t go well, and where they see themselves as the spring semester begins. Remind them that it is a big step going to college and that with every big step come challenges but also major rewards.


• Remind them that change is sometimes a hard thing but a good thing. Show them that you are there for them as their worlds are changing. Have them help you with some day-to-day task while they are at home, they need to know that they are still important in that world.


• For parents with students who live on-campus … When I was a freshman in college this was the first break when I called school “home” in front of my mom. I thought she was going to burst into tears … know that your student will now and forever have two homes the one they were raised in, and the one they are making for themselves. Just know that you can be a part of both of them!