Compromise is the key to roommate harmony - Colleges - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 2002

Millions of incoming freshmen carrying computers, sheets, and pillowcases--and even the occasional teddy bear--will soon leave their homes to spend their first semester at college. More important than anything they can put in a box or cart on a dolly is the attitude this year's crop of freshmen bring to their new home-away-from-home, maintains Regina Rousso Wilmes, housing director at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.

"Every year, we see more students who've had the luxury of having a room to themselves at home," she says. "When you move in with someone, compromise becomes really important." She suggests that, as soon as possible, roommates try to set guidelines for situations such as whether they can borrow each other's clothes or how late the stereo can be played.

"Things like whether they're from a small town or big city or a student's major aren't nearly as important to roommates getting along as the small day-to-day things? Wilmes points out. "Your college roommate doesn't have to be your best friend, but you do have to be able to live together."