By Mackenzie Grizzard | Assistant News Editor
For some, sharing living spaces with siblings and family was the norm. Yelling at a sibling to stop hogging the bathroom, touching your clothes or stealing your personal items is a part of life for some, but for many, living in a communal space is a foreign concept that is difficult to adjust to.
Although some students moved into brand-new residence halls with state-of-the-art amenities, living in a community with others is often a difficult adjustment, said Dr. Sharra Hynes, vice president for Student Life.
“When you all live in community together, it puts a little wear and tear on those buildings that you live in,” Hynes said.
Despite new buildings and community spaces, often the biggest adjustment for students is navigating life with a roommate while sharing a smaller-than-usual space.
A study published by the Journal of Public Health Student Capstones found that in a sample of 31,000 students, over half reported frequent disagreements or conflict with their roommates, ranging from a host of different issues.
Forney junior Benjamin Lopez is a Community Leader at Heritage House in North Village. According to Lopez, community living is the best and “most challenging” part of living in a residence hall.
“I definitely think community living can be advantageous,” Lopez said. “There are very few other times where you get to meet so many new people. It’s a wonderful way to gain perspective on the world beyond where a resident is first from.”
Lopez said conflict often brews from all the differences that come with living with someone new, ranging from cultural, socioeconomic, geographical and emotional differences.
“Our residents come from a vast variety of backgrounds,” Lopez said. “Simply taking the time to learn who we are doing life with usually solves conflicts I’ve seen.”
Baylor takes pride in its first-year living experience, which has been recognized nationally in the past few years. For first-year students that are living in on-campus residence halls, there are a multitude of resources available to make sure they are adjusting well to a new place with new people.
However, roommate disagreements are not always confined to the four walls of a freshman dorm room. With 3,552 freshmen enrolled in Fall 2025, that leaves 16,306 sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students who have previously or currently live with roommates.
Jason Cook, vice president for marketing and communications, said he wants Baylor students to realize the “intentionality” that faculty puts into making the Baylor experience a good one. This student experience includes residence halls and student living.
“It’s an institution-wide effort and something we take great pride in,” Cook said.
Despite only working with a small section of freshmen at Heritage House, Lopez still believes that dealing with roommate disagreements always boils down to meeting people where they are.
“My advice would be to remember to stay calm and do your very best to see others where they’re at,” Lopez said.
Advice from Lopez and Baylor administration typically rests in resource utilization. For those struggling to adjust to community living, there are resources available to help out students of all grade classifications, majors and geographical origins.
“We have layers upon layers of supports for students, particularly in those for first-year students who are perhaps some of our most vulnerable,” Hynes said. “If they live in our residence halls, they have a full-time residence hall director, they have a faculty in residence, a resident chaplain, they have CLs, they have so many people who are there to see them. And that is not just to see them in mass, but to see them individually and to know them.”
