Residence Life is eliminating some night access policies and adding a new style of dorm room to help on-campus upperclassmen student retention rates starting next fall.

Starting next fall, students with a St. Thomas ID card will not have to check in while visiting other dorms. External visitors will still need to write down their personal information when they enter the St. Thomas residence halls, but the checkout process will be eliminated. The current process requires students to check in all guests, St. Thomas students or not, visiting the halls upon arrival and checkout before 2 a.m.

Residence Life Director Aaron Macke said Residence Life still wants to keep track of who’s coming and going within the halls, but it wants to do so in a way that will be more accommodating for residents and guests.

“We’re university housing, so we’re always going to have rules,” Macke said. “But we are looking at where certain rules, such as Night Access policies, can be adjusted or amended so that we’re still serving the purpose we want the policy to serve while doing so in a way that will be more welcoming and comfortable.”

Another change to Night Access being considered is the operating hours. Traditionally, Night Access has started at 8 p.m., but Residence Life is considering bumping back the starting time.

“The student’s day is now getting longer with evening classes and working schedules, so we’re looking to start Night Access at 10 p.m.,” Macke said.

Senior Landon Rick lived in Brady Hall for three years and was a resident adviser for two. Rick said changes to Night Access policies will have a big influence on students considering living on campus.

“I think the Night Access policy really hinders upperclassmen from living on campus,” Rick said. “In theory, students are adults, and so they wanted to be treated as such. They don’t want to be treated like a kid and have to check in a member of the opposite sex just to watch a movie at night.”

Rick also said the Night Access changes will be good because it will be an equalizing factor among the different on-campus housing options.

“If you are a sophomore living in Morrison (Residence Hall) and your friend is a sophomore living in Brady, he would be forced to check in visitors. But you wouldn’t have to because you live in Morrison,” Rick said. “Why would you want to stay on campus as a sophomore if all of your other friends were getting perks that you couldn’t enjoy?”

New “Super Singles” rooms offered

The “Super Singles” are rooms located on Dowling Hall’s 5th floor south and Brady Hall’s 7th floor that two students would normally live in, but now the rooms will be converted to one-person rooms.

The Super Singles will have the same layout, size and amenities of a traditional St. Thomas dorm room on Dowling’s 5th floor south and Brady’s 7th floor.

Macke said many students choose to move off campus after their freshman year because they want to have a private room. The Super Singles are designed to provide students with additional space.

“Maybe students … would come back to (Brady and Dowling) if they got their own space,” Macke said.

After the on-campus application and selection process was completed in April, Residence Life noted it did not retain on-campus students at its target rate. The Super Singles are an experiment designed to encourage more upperclassmen to live on campus.

The Super Singles will be offered at a reduced cost. In the past, single dorms have been $7,200 per year, but as of next year, Super Singles will cost $6,800. While the price is higher than that of a double dorm, the Super Singles will be significantly cheaper than the on-campus apartments.

Sophomore Matt O’Connell, who lived on campus his freshman and sophomore year, said cost plays a big role in where many students chose to live.

“The financial aspect is kind of an important one, at least for me,” O’Connell said. “That’s one of the reasons that I chose to live on campus in the dorms my second year, instead of in the on-campus apartments.”

O’Connell said he stayed on campus his first two years in part because it was more convenient for him in regard to his football schedule, but will be moving off campus for his junior year. O’Connell made the decision to move off campus before he heard about the Super Singles, but said that he would have moved regardless.

“I’m moving off campus and that decision was made awhile ago,” O’Connell said. “Even if I had been aware of the Super Singles, I’d still be moving off campus, just for personal reasons.”

Macke said there’s no guarantee that they’ll be used again during the 2014-2015 school year. So far, eight men have signed up for the Super Singles in Brady, but no females have applied for Dowling’s Super Singles.

Whether or not the Super Rooms become a new tradition, Macke said Resident Life’s main goal is to make students happy.

“When you’re with us, we want you to have a great experience in our halls,” Macke said. “And if that translates into you maybe wanting to stay another year, that’d be wonderful.”

Maggie Whitacre can be reached at whit0467@stthomas.edu.