Over a dozen protestors gathered to rally against Texas State’s policy that requires freshmen to live on campus, Tuesday, March 4, at the Stallions.
Eric Pinteralli, mechanical engineering technology senior with Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), organized the protest that began at noon. After speeches and chants, the protestors delivered a petition with 1,025 signatures to change the on-campus housing policy to Texas State President Kelly Damphousse’s office in the J.C. Kellam Administration Building.
The petition and overall campaign argue that requiring freshmen to live on campus places a financial burden on students when some off-campus living might be cheaper and higher quality.
Pinteralli began advocating against the housing policy in 2022 as a sophomore Student Senator after his request for a housing exemption was denied during his freshman year despite financial hardship.
“The cheapest option was so expensive that it almost drained my entire 529 account,” Pinteralli said. “I had to take out a student loan to cover certain things that would have otherwise been covered by the 529.”
Texas State requires new freshmen under 20 years old with less than 30 semester credit hours to live on-campus. However, students who graduated from high school within a year of their semester of admission are required to live on-campus regardless of earned semester credit hours.
Students may only file for an exemption if they are married, have or are expecting children, have a disability that the university cannot accommodate or can commute from a parent’s house within a 50-mile driving distance of campus. For context, Texas Tech University has a similar policy, while the University of Texas at Austin does not have an on-campus living requirement.
In an email statement to The Star, Texas State wrote that students living on campus during their first year results in higher retention, higher GPA scores and stronger connections to the campus community.
“The first-year residency requirement is in place as a strategy to help support students through their transition to college and allows us to provide support during this critical time in a student’s journey,” the statement read.
According to a 2021 study, first-generation students from low-income backgrounds who live on campus their first year experienced an increased sense of belonging, a more welcoming perception of the campus community and higher resilience compared to a similar first-generation group that lived off-campus.
“I don’t mind living on campus because it gets me more acclimated to school and the area,” Harmony Hart, a social work freshman said. “I can see where the students are coming from. I can also see where the university is coming from because my GPA was pretty high last semester.”
Pinteralli said the university requires freshmen to live on campus due to profits, because requiring housing puts “millions into their coffers.”
“If they ignore us, we will find other ways to pressure them,” Pinteralli said in his speech. “We will continue the fight until this mandate is overturned. We will work day and night to make sure all students have financial freedom.”
Pinteralli said going forward, YAL will continue advocating and raising awareness on social media about the housing policy to capture the administration’s attention.
