University friends: By chance or by design? | Hacker News Reader

University friends: By chance or by design?

bbc.co.uk

I guess this article is just about the UK. I don’t know how it works over there, but at my school in the US, the residence halls vary pretty widely in price, and so the factor that really decides where you live is how much you can afford.

I’m also an RA, and to put this in the nicest way possible, let’s just say there doesn’t seem to be a housing agenda with the specific goal of creating diverse communities (IYKYK).

Again, I don’t really know how it works in the UK, but at least at my school, I’d say it’s definitely “by chance.”

> the residence halls vary pretty widely in price, and so the factor that really decides where you live is how much you can afford

What affect does that have on the social environment? Are there status differences based on residence hall, for example? Is it racially segregated like many cities are (partly as a result of economic segregation)?

It's interesting to compare your school to many U.S. cities, which are trying to reduce economic segregation[0] - your school seems to codify it. Why not at least mix larger and smaller rooms in the same dorms?

[0] See this article on a major policy shift in Minneapolis, for example:

https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family...

> at my school in the US, the residence halls vary pretty widely in price

interesting, would you mind sharing what kind of school you went to? I attended a private liberal arts school and a medium-sized state university and both charged a flat rate for housing. there was basically a lottery weighted by seniority and disciplinary record to get into the best dorms.

Dorms varied in price like this when I went to MIT about a decade ago. I presumed it was due to the variation in building age/quality as well as amenities offered (such as dining hall etc).

Harvard College’s housing is pretty variable yet they don’t charge different rates. I’ve heard of schools having apartments for rent that varied (ones that have little housing) but never different rates for dorm housing.

I went to a state school, and there was some pricing variation in the 90s for traditional double rooms, four rooms with a shared common area and a fancy suite.

Now they have single apartments, suites with individual bathrooms, etc. Cost ranges from $8500-$13000.

I graduated from Northeastern University in Boston this year. (Go huskies!)

Freshman year, all students have the same residence halls. (with some edge cases)

After that, the residence halls were priced according to their age. There were categories like 'Economy', 'Deluxe', and 'Luxury', with discounted variations like Economy Single, Double, Triple, etc. Newer buildings were nicer and had more amenities and were therefore more expensive.

A better title would be "A Summary of Responses to Freedom of Information Requests About Student Housing Policies". There is no survey (scientific or informal) of students to find how or if these policies affect the friendships that they form and keep long-term and there is no comparison to whether the intent of these policies is realized or if students tend to circumvent these social integration attempts. In fact, there is not a single piece of information in the article that was contributed by a student (Unless the VP of NUS, who is quoted once, is a student). I think the title is intended to stoke irrational fear of institutions controlling lives in unseen and potentially uncomfortable ways. If you read the news looking for reasons to justify your xenophobia and/or distrust of education, this headline is exactly what you hope to see. The only thing to fear here is lazy writing and the author's use of "freshers".

The 'better' title contains no information on what those housing policies are, while the original seems quite accurate - the universities explicitly tried to affect who people socialize with/befriend. Why should the BBC downplay this, just because they lack a study on whether the attempts were successful?

Seems to me with the giant interweb companies knowing everything about everyone this would be an area they would excel at.

Group the people who are similar enough, so there won't be excessive drama, yet from different enough backgrounds so they can expand their horizons.

After the semester I spent in the dorms I'm glad I'm not still in prison due the one roomate (out of four) who was just incompatible with everyone else which almost lead to his defenestration on more than one occasion.

I'm sure what you experienced was nothing like actual prison.

In Slovakia and Czech republic it is common to select dorm and room in an online registration process (click war as we call it). If you want to live with your friends, you all select the same room. If not, you leave blank space and some stranger registers to your room. There are well known party dorms, quiet dorms, close-to-school dorms etc, but students decide where to live and who to share room with.

My wife and I met when she moved in 3 doors down at Warwick; I know of a few other similar relationships, and many relationships formed in the sports teams.

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