30 September 2008

Roommate Matching In the News

Over at The Daily Free Press, Northeastern University is an example of how an institution can match incoming students up for housing in an effort to put compatible roommates together. They write:

At Northeastern University, students have been matched to their soon-to-be roommates based on an electronic compatibility questionnaire since 2004. The relatively new program has found big success, Northeastern Student Affairs Director Anne-Marie Regan said.

"We did a survey of how many did a room change, and less than 2 percent did [since the program came out], not necessarily because of roommate problems, but because they wanted a different type of room," she said. "We don't get a lot of complaints."

The Daily Free Press is the independent student newspaper at Boston University (similar to our Huntington News but published daily instead of twice a week), and at Boston University they lack such roommate matching. Boston University's Director of Housing cites that students often do not tell the truth on questionnaires, change behavior between high school and college, and also says that "assigning students who are similar in likes and dislikes does not challenge students to learn and grow."

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