For anyone who went to USF back in the day, the erstwhile “Sandspur U” is hardly recognizable. From national sponsored-research player to I-4 high-tech corridor anchor to appealing, non-industrial-park ambiance to a Big East football program to serious, on-campus housing.
As a USF student – and later as the media relations manager – I was constantly made aware that USF was a “commuter school.” As in “merely” a “commuter school.” As if fulfilling its charge as an urban university with an older, non-traditional student demographic was some sort of pejorative. As if the education offered were of the “drive-thru” variety.
Of course our students commuted. We fought the good fight while USF built its way into prominence – and became one of the 20 largest universities in the country.
But nothing, including football, helps dispel the “commuter school” label like on-campus housing. USF plans call for on-campus accommodations for approximately 10,000 students. Right now it is more than half way there. With the recent opening of the seven-story, $65-million Juniper-Poplar Hall, which will house more than 1,000 students, USF now totals about 5,400 beds. Incoming freshman, for the first time, will be required to live on campus.
Maybe this is the year that USF’s football team goes to a BCS Bowl and gets the campus jacked up like never before. Regardless, nothing energizes a campus like a critical mass of students actually living on it. That means interaction and networking and involvement – from lectures to film series to live theater to sports to – parties. And research has shown that those who live on campus are more successful academically and graduate at higher rates.
No, this is not your parents’ USF anymore.