Moving into the residential halls is one of the hardest transitions in college. To make that transition easier, there one person that is dedicated to helping make it better. A Resident Advisor (RA) is a student leader that helps supervise students in residence halls. They are students, friends, mentors, etc. Here are 4 benefits of becoming an RA:
Relationships. As a resident advisor, you meet everyone. You meet the parents, grandparents, friends, etc. of your residents. It’s a great way for you to connect personally with your resident. Some of your residents end up becoming some of your closest friends. These relationships are not only good for you, but also for your resident. You have such an impact on the residents’ life. Having that type of impact determines how their college experience will be. It’s a great feeling knowing you helped them have a better college experience.
Skill. We all need that awesome resume to get our dream job. What better way to do that than to be an RA? Time management, resources, and networking are just some of the many skills you are going to develop having this job. Time management is a huge skill that a resident advisor will HAVE to develop quickly. Meeting, roommate contracts, and alone time is very important and being able to balance that is an incredible skill. You learn to network by meeting new people with different majors, people of different organizations, and even professionals of housing. With that, you will be trained on the different resources on and off campus to help your residents.
Photo via Daria Shevtsova
Campus Job. College is hard enough as it is. Trying to balance school, having a social life, and a job is hard. Many students either don’t have vehicles or don’t bring them to college and that makes having a job off campus hard. Also, some campus jobs are hard to come by. A perk of being a resident advisor is that you work where you live. That means no gas money or travel time. Being a resident advisor is one of the better on-campus jobs anyway. Your job as a resident advisor is to be social and connect with people. And you get paid to do it! How awesome is that?
Room and Board. Most students are required to live on campus or at least one to two years. That can get really expensive. We all don’t have rich friends or relatives that are willing to pay for our room and board. What can you do to save on that? Well, become a resident advisor. As a resident advisor, you can free housing or get a big scholarship to go towards that. In college, every penny counts.