Seoul students, fed up with roommates, call for more single dorms

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Seoul students, fed up with roommates, call for more single dorms

Published: 02 Jul. 2024, 15:23

LEE TAE-HEE
lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr

Gwanak Residence Halls, an undergraduate dormitory at Seoul National University in Gwanak District, southern Seoul [SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY]

Lee, a 26-year-old graduate student at Seoul National University, packed their bags last semester and left the university dorm.

“No one listened to me as I explained the rules, such as 'let’s clean the bathroom together,' and since it was hard to communicate with them due to the language barrier, I just simply didn’t want to be in the room,” said Lee.

Lee was initially assigned to a quad room with three international students as roommates.

For more than a month, Lee only used the dorm room to change clothes, electing to shower and sleep on campus.

Lee isn't the only student struggling to live in university dorms.

Kim, a 29-year-old living in a double in the same Seoul National University building, has also considered living alone outside the dorms due roommate issues but has been forced to stay due to the costs moving would incur.

“I tend to go to bed early and wake up early, but my roommate sleeps late and wakes up late, so I have to be extremely quiet in the morning,” said Kim. “It’s not uncommon for graduate students to return to their rooms after studying late into the night, but it’s hard for me to turn any lights on or take a shower when I come home.”

The closest area to Seoul National University that offers abundant studio apartment options is quite far from campus. The monthly rent is often two to three times higher than the cost of a dorm, pushing high numbers of students to take the latter option. This year, due to rental scams, the rent for new studio apartments in Sinchon in western Seoul or Sillim-dong in southern Seoul, where many college campuses are located, has risen above 1 million won ($720) a month.

Each university has also seen an uptick in dorm vacancies as more and more students struggle with roommates and communal living situations.

For example, the occupancy rate of Korea University’s Anam Dormitory has dropped to 75 percent.

Kim Dong-won, president of Korea University, was asked whether the university was considering expanding its residency options at a news conference on March 21.

“One in four dorm rooms at Korea University are currently empty,” said Kim. “Because many students have used rooms by themselves since they were young, they prefer studio apartments.”

He believes the lack of dormitories is no longer as big of a problem as it once was.

However, other universities in Seoul such as Yonsei University, Sungkyunkwan University, Ewha Womans University and Kyung Hee University still have an occupancy rate above 90 percent, as many students still desire dorm housing due to high rent in those areas.

A triple room at Anam Dormitory at Korea University in Seongbuk District, central Seoul [KOREA UNIVERSITY]

In August, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission will recommend that universities convert dorms with rooms that house three or more students to singles or doubles.

They will also suggest the addition of suites, where students live in singles connected to a common area.

“It’s convenient since I can make phone calls in the room and not have to worry about a roommate,” said Shim, a 26-year-old who lives in a single at a university in Seoul. “Many of my friends around me who got caught up in rent scams had to prepare documents for two to three months, and it's helpful that the school provides single rooms that we don’t need to worry about.”

Worn-out dormitories are also another source of complaint.

“There is no cookware within the dorms, such as a communal fridge or microwave, so it’s a shame that we can’t eat any refrigerated foods,” said Shim Sung-min, a 20-year-old who lives in a triple at Korea University’s Anam Dormitory. “I’m having a lot of fun sharing a room with my friends, but after completing my military duty, I’m thinking of living in a studio.”

Commotion ensued at Yonsei University on May 17 of this year when residents left its WooJungWon Dormitory with complaints that “the dorm is going to collapse.”

Students had written on Everytime, an anonymous community for university students, about the fridge being tilted due to popping-up tiles in the basement kitchen. The floor appeared to be rising out of the ground in posted photographs.

After the incident, Yonsei University inspected the building in collaboration with Seoul City Hall and the Seodaemun District Office and concluded that “there is no reason to be concerned about the safety of the building.”

A kitchen's floor tiles appear to rise from the ground at WooJungWon Dormitory of Yonsei University in Seodaemun District, western Seoul [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Many also argue that certain archaic methods of managing dormitories no longer fit the lifestyles of modern students who value their space and freedom.

“There are cases where students live one to two months in a dormitory and leave,” said a real estate agent in Sinchon. “Especially in the case of Ewha Womans University, they have strict rules such as curfew and no entry of males into the dorms, leading to many students feeling that their privacy is being violated.”

Yonsei University's student council has discussed lifting the Songdo Dormitory’s 2 a.m. curfew.

A total of 835 students, or 67.2 percent of the respondents, supported abolishing the curfew on a council survey. Another 151 felt it should be more lenient.

Individual rooms in the North Hall Dormitory of Harvard University's Law School [SCREEN CAPTURE]

At universities in Japan and European countries like Britain and Germany, most dorm rooms are singles.

Meiji University in Japan provides singles to all students at its Komae International House and Izumi International House, equipped with a bed, desk, bathroom and kitchen. The dormitory website describes the rooms as “fit for students who value privacy.”

The United States, which values a sociable culture, commonly offers dorm rooms fit for two, three or four students. But recently, Harvard University constructed 112 singles in its law school's dormitory.

“European Universities generally have individual rooms,” said Kim Yoon-tae, a professor of sociology at Korea University. “Matching the trend of the times, Korea needs policies of reducing rooms larger than triples and giving more options to students.”

Despite the changing times, some say there is a need for students to learn what it's like to live together.

“University is a place where students learn community, teamwork and how to care for others,” said Koo Jung-woo, a professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University. “In today’s world, where there are many side effects of hyper-individualism, I worry about how those effects could be worsened if dorm rooms also become individual rooms.”

BY JANG SEO-YUN, KANG SUNG-MIN [matthewskang@joongang.co.kr]