Older “nontraditional” students can be really nice university roommates
I saw a post go viral on tiktok (2.3M views in less than a week) of a nontraditional student moving into university housing. He was still young (28) but people in the comments said nontraditional students should not be allowed to live in dorms.
I personally think this is a closed-minded sentiment. I understand an older student may not be the “normal” college roommate, but I’ve known people who have lovely experiences with them. I also think any nontraditional student moving into university accommodation knows what they’re getting and might actually be more accepting than traditional students.
For example, my friend shared a suite (kitchen+bathroom+living room) with a woman in her 60s who was going back to school. If he came home late from a night out, she’d wake up early to make him a big breakfast, then ask him all about his night out. She wasn’t judgmental at all, she just genuinely enjoyed his stories.
I also remember an older woman from when I was in undergrad looking for a suite mate. She would post on the class Facebook and seemed really nervous about getting random suite mates and them not liking her :( I’d estimate she was in her 50s and she said she used a CPAP machine, but was otherwise quiet. She apologized for the machine being a little noisy, but said that in return, she didn’t mind having roommates that have people over in the common areas late at night. I feel like this is a really fair trade.
Edit: I also think building intergenerational bonds is important. It can help all of us be more accepting of each other and not just think every old person is a “evil boomer” or every young person is just a “screenager.”