In response to the high population of freshmen living off campus, a program is in the works to cater toward their needs.
The Mizzou Off-Campus Mentorship program, conceived by Missouri Students Association senator David Wettroth, aims to ensure that freshmen who are unable to live on campus during their first year are still included in campus life. Freshman are required to live on campus at MU, but not all are able to, Wettroth said.
As a result, these students often fall out of or are never part of the loop that comes with living on campus. Some don’t receive emails about events at MU, struggle with lack transportation and are unable to experience the transition process into college.
“It baffled me that MU could have a requirement to make freshmen live on campus but then not have the room for them,” Wettroth said.
As a freshman, Wettroth was able to live on campus and said he didn’t realize the extent of the housing dilemma facing some freshmen. After meeting several students who weren’t able to secure a spot in a residence hall, Wettroth decided to craft a project he had previously worked on into the mentorship program.
The Mizzou Off-Campus Mentorship program, or MOM for short, will be housed under the MU Wellness Resource Center and will join the center’s already existing off-campus housing service, Wettroth said.
The process of hiring mentors for the program has already begun. Though he is still working out the kinks of the program as more information comes in, Wettroth said he hopes mentors will be able to meet with off-campus residents twice a month and keep them informed of what’s happening on campus.
“It’s an outlet for the students to understand that we are taking an interest in them and we don’t want them to seem like they’re off campus,” Wettroth said.
An issue with living off campus is getting to and from campus not during class time, Wettroth said. Most of these students live in apartment complexes only a few miles away from campus and rely on transportation the complexes provide, but these services cease at certain hours.
The Mizzou Off-Campus Mentorship program will look to solve the issue by providing transportation for students who want to attend events or meetings on campus that otherwise wouldn’t be available through a shuttle service.
Part of the mentor’s responsibility will be providing this transport, Wettroth said.
MSA senator Christopher Kemp has already applied to be once of the mentors in the burgeoning program. He had an experience similar to that of an off-campus freshman because he transferred to MU after his freshman year.
“I didn’t really get the experience of living on campus and I know some of the difficulties associated with that,” Kemp said. “I just thought (applying) would be a great opportunity to help out students who are in the same situation I was in.”
If the freshman housing situation were to be solved, Wettroth will transition the program into one that mentors transfer students such as Kemp and freshmen who may need assistance adjusting to college life, he said.
Approximately 300 freshmen are living off campus this year, Wettroth said in an email. The Department of Residential Life won’t know until this summer how many students will face similar circumstances for next academic year.
