Pros and cons of living on campus

When Stephen Kimei landed at Kisii University, the first indication that he was home was a Facebook update in which he bemoaned his experience with a lousy room acquisition system. This only lasted for day one.

 Thanks to the TV room at Manotti Hall, he could now watch his favorite Chelsea Football Club trounce other EPL minnows. 

College and university students often recount their experiences in campus. One such experience is the excitation that comes with owning keys to the hostel room. Finally, I am on my own in deciding when and how to sleep, students would say, albeit intuitively. There are more benefits of residing on campus. 

Students residing on campus access a plethora of facilities. “In campus, there is relative security against outsiders, free electricity and water,” opined Williams Magunga, 22, a law student at the University of Nairobi. Kimei, 20, a Bachelor of Education sophomore, echoes similar sentiments:  “When you stay within, you enjoy access to library services, entertainment opportunities, and subsidized food.” 

Cost incentives motivate students to reside on campus. “A plate of ugali and kale goes for 10 shillings at the mess,” offered Kimei, extolling the pricing regime for food on campus as friendly to students of diverse economic backgrounds. 

According to Magunga, residing on campus benefits students socially. “You see, you live together and interact on a daily basis. The closeness is a recipe for socialization- boys amongst themselves, boys and girls, and girls amongst themselves too.” 

However, not every student resides on campus. The nature of the program and the availability of boarding facilities sometime influence this fate. Some students detest residing in campus. 

“To me, residing on campus is never ever! This is a classic immortalization of the distasteful high school boarding culture. Freedom denied. Period,” opines Valary Ochieng, a Moi University journalism student.

Ochieng believes that new comers pick bad habits while residing on campus, something that Kimei counters. “Our hostels accommodate students in the same year of study, ruling out any possibilities of bad influence.”