One hundred beds that were not claimed during the housing reapplication process will be allocated to transfer students next year, said Tom Kane, the director of housing.
“What we are going to do is put a floor in Hoey and a floor in Coltrane that will be exclusively for transfer students and about 76 of the 100 beds will be put on those two floors,” Kane said. “We will commit to the other 24 and put them wherever we may get upperclassmen cancelations in the halls with suites or apartments.”
This will double the amount of transfers living on campus, Kane said.
“Typically we would accommodate about 90 transfer students in two learning communities and this is an additional 100,” Kane said.
By looking at past years, housing was able to see that transfers who live on floors with freshman did better academically than transfers who were in non-traditional halls, Kane said. Also, transfers who participated in one of the two transfer RLCs did even better than those transfers living with freshmen.
Because of limited staffing, the transfer RLCs are not able to take more students. But a transfer “themed” floor is a solution to that, Kane said.
“Its all about success,” Kane said. “That’s what we are trying to accomplish, have students have a really good experience in college but also pass all their classes.”
The consolidation of transfer students on the same floors will allow students to have specific programming geared toward the needs of transfer students.
Dino DiBernardi, the associate vice chancellor for student development, said he believes transfers share some similar challenges and opportunities and having them together will allow them to create their own network and support system for each other.
Having RAs and floor programs will help students navigate a new campus.
“Really our ultimate goal is that no one would know they are transfer students, that they are just Appalachian students,” he said.
Housing will track the students the next few school years to see if the themed floors have been helpful.
Director of Electronic Student Services Brian Brown was involved in the decision to create the transfer floors.
“I think everyone is very pleased that we will be able to offer 100 beds to transfer students,” Brown said. “The creation of designated transfer floors will allow transfer students to live with other students who have also transferred to Appalachian.
Being a transfer student brings unique opportunities and challenges and being with others who share your experience can be helpful.”
Story: STEPHANIE SANSOUCY, Senior News Reporter