Dorm life another step toward self-sufficiency

Eight thirty a.m. A red Dodge pickup pulls in. Backs into a parking space. The pickup has California plates. Its bed is half full of things. Boxes and plastic tubs and bulging shopping bags from Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

This is Scott Barder's stuff. It is, in effect, everything he owns that matters. It is all he has brought with him from Grand Terrace, Calif., for his first semester living in a University of Nevada, Las Vegas dorm.

Scott, 17, and his mom, Maggie, have been driving since 4:15 a.m. Their town is halfway between Riverside and San Bernardino in the California desert.

They were hoping to get here earlier, closer to 8, so Scott could get to pick which half of the room he would get.

But first, they must check in. Richard Clark, the university's director of housing and residential life, says 1,132 students will be living on campus this semester. Half of them will be freshmen, such as Scott. Freshmen are required to live in the dorms unless they have family in town.

School starts today at UNLV and at Nevada State College. It'll start a week later at the College of Southern Nevada.

Across the state, more than 100,000 students will fill the seven public colleges and universities.

Enrollment is expected to grow, again, at CSN and the state college. It'll probably be down a bit at UNLV, which was expected.

These students will face hard classes and homework and a shrinking budget that has things crowded. They'll probably face even more cuts next year because the state's budget situation keeps getting worse.

Neal Smatresk, UNLV's president, says it looks like the biggest drop in enrollment at the university will be among graduate students, particularly in education programs that were cut.

He says there also will probably be a dip in freshmen enrollment. He can't say how much yet.

But this morning, the students are checking in. They are having their names put into the computer system and having their Rebel Cards activated and filling out next of kin forms, and they are being told where to go to find their new homes.

In some cases, the students have two parents and little siblings with them. Sometimes, pictures are taken. Sometimes there are hugs.

Some students are alone. There is a young man in the parking lot, for example, unloading a Toyota all by himself. He has a lamp and a computer and boxes full of other things. He wears his sunglasses, even indoors.

Nearby, Erica Winston unloads a large SUV. Her daughter, Tiara, 18, will be a new student here. They're from Santa Clara, Calif., up in the northern part of the state.

She says her daughter could have lived off campus -- they have several relatives in Las Vegas -- but she wanted the girl to live in the dorm as a freshman.

"I want her to live the college life," she says. "You know, you got to grow up."

And that, beyond the education, is what college is about, right?

It is about molding teenagers who might or might not have an idea about the world into adults who come to shape the ideas others have about the world.

Scott Barder says he picked UNLV for three reasons: He likes the heat; it has criminal justice and history programs, and, "They have a huge gym." Scott likes to work out, explains his mom.

The paperwork done, Scott approaches his building with arms full of things. His dorm was built in the 1990s. It has small balconies and sits near the Thomas & Mack Center. He climbs the stairs, which smell musty. His room is the first one at the top of the stairs. He opens the door.

There is an entire family inside the small space. They surround a tall, thin young man. He is Thomas Kim, also 17. He is from Maryland. He will major in hotel management, which made UNLV the obvious choice for him.

The meeting is polite, if a bit awkward. There are hellos and handshakes and a pregnant pause.

Thomas has chosen the half of the room away from the window and closest to the door. He says he likes to get out often and he figures being closest to the door gives him an easy exit.

The room is small. The size of a master bathroom in a typical suburban house.

But it is home now to two teenagers who have some idea of what they are in for but no idea where it will all lead.

Scott's mom seems excited.

"You really lucked out on the roommate," she says.

"He seems really nice," she says, several times, as if to reassure herself that her boy will be OK.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at
rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.