By
Rachel Schick
Arizona Daily Wildcat
RHA and ASUA use collaborative effort to create freshmen questionnaire
The Residence Hall Association and ASUA are working together to create a new method of matching roommates in UA residence halls.
Associated Students Sen. Kristel Miller, a Coronado resident assistant and former resident of Arizona-Sonora Residence Hall, has first-hand experience with problems associated with moving into the dorms, she said.
"One person is a 'neat freak' and the other person doesn't really care what the room looks like," Miller said. "One person prefers to have music on when they study, one person doesn't."
The proposal includes a questionnaire, contained in freshman admissions packets, completed by students before they move into UA residence halls. Questions regarding basic lifestyle preferences will help to match prospective residents with compatible roommates, Miller said.
"The trend that I've noticed is that roommate conflicts don't seem to be from people (whose) personalities don't get along or they don't like each other," she said. "The problem, generally, is lifestyles."
Roommate matching surveys would be composed of five to 10 questions regarding lifestyle preferences. Students would rank each question on a scale of importance from 1 to 10, Miller said.
Having similar behaviors and habits as her roommate is important for dance freshman Courtland Trice.
"I don't drink, and I don't do things like that, and if I had a roommate that was like that, it would be very hard for me to deal with," Trice said. "It's scary."
Other schools across the nation already have similar questionnaires in freshman packets.
"My brother...was just starting school out in New Hampshire, and he had a roommate matching survey," said Audra Shattuck, RHA National Communications Coordinator. "His roommate and him get along perfectly."
Shattuck originally presented the idea of roommate matching for the University of Arizona two years ago to James Van Arsdel, director of UA Residence Life. The idea was denied at the time because the amount of funds needed to start the program was too high, Shattuck said.
The new proposal is still in its planning stages, though - RHA and ASUA are waiting to receive more information from other schools who already have roommate-matching questionnaires before the idea is formally presented to the residence life director, Shattuck said.
"I would love to see it in effect as soon as possible," Miller said.
