Video by Jack Drain

When Spinnaker broke the news that the freshman housing requirement would end starting Fall 2017, we knew students would have a thing or two to say. We spoke to freshmen outside the Osprey Cafe who had mixed feelings about the news.

Jordan Quinn, computer science freshman, and Natalie Espanol, psychology freshman, both said they would probably still live on campus even if it wasn’t required, because neither of them are from Jacksonville.

“I guess it’s cool for people who like, live close by, but I’m from Orlando so I would’ve been living on campus either way,” Espanol said.

Edrian Hernandez, mechanical engineering freshman, and Justin Robbins, computing and information science freshman, are from Jacksonville and said the waived requirement would have worked for them.

“I live in town, so I would have been able to go back and forth pretty easily, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal,” Robbins said. “It would have been different for sure because living with three guys vs. living with my mom is a little different. But I think it would have been fine either way.”

Psychology freshman and Jacksonville native Juliet Dayton said the housing requirement and the costs associated with it almost prevented her from coming to UNF, but she’s glad to be on campus now.

“I actually prefer the living on campus thing because everything is so accessible and it’s so much easier for me to get involved on campus since I live here,” Dayton said. “So I’m glad that I lived here, but like money-wise, definitely living at home would have been a better option.”

Spinnaker will continue to follow up on this story as more information becomes available.