Reasons why Hostel Is Best for Female Students in Nigerian universities
Students want the best for themselves whenever they gain admission into a tertiary institution. Some schools give you the option of staying in the Hostel or paying for accommodation off campus. A research group known as Hypothesis.com did a study and found 11 solid reasons why you should choose to stay in school hostel, especially as a female student.
- Good Facilities
There is no disputing the fact that you have constant water and electric power supply in the school hostel. At least the situation is relatively far better than staying off campus where you get accommodation in a building that may not have source of water or constant power supply. Most times you use your money to get these facilities off campus. You could be lucky to get a room in a building that has Generator and borehole but you pay heavily for such facilities.
- Communal relationship
People live as one family in the hostel. Those that stay in the same room or even the same floor with you will always look out for you and watch your back. The entire hostel occupants work as one in maintaining facilities, ensuring environmental sanitation and keeping the atmosphere conducive for habitation.
- Good Academic Culture
Living in the hostel helps you develop reading culture. You always go to class to read especially as inspired by others around you. The hostel is always within the school premises so you can easily walk to class and read for as long as you wish. Students also study together and engage in group discussions. They are not in a hurry to rush back home like those staying off campus.
- Well Planned Rooms
The rooms in hostels are well planned and designed to accommodate a student with well built wardrobes, kitchenette, desk room and seat-out for relaxation. Some off campus lodges are built as if prisoners are expected to stay in the rooms. Such rooms are very small without any consideration for the student’s other property necessary for studies (no meaningful space for table, seat, lockers and all that). The discomfort is often high in most off-campus lodges.
- Morality and Decency
Girls who stay in the hostels are known for maintaining high morals. You hardly find anyone who sneaks out at night to go into town for midnight runs or to cohabit off campus with opposite sex. Students in the hostels are discouraged from indulging in such indecent and immoral activities because the hostel is within the school premises and the lifestyle in the hostel is homely and communal. No one wants her bed to be empty at night so this discourages off campus or night runs.
- Spirituality
Students in the hostel maintain a spiritual life through such activities as daily hostel prayers and regular attendance to campus fellowships. Because the hostel is within the school premises, hostel girls dominate attendance to campus fellowships and this marks them out as most morally and spiritually sound students on campus.
Sporting Facilities and Healthy Living
Proximity of the hostels to school facilities means that students in the hostel have the opportunity to live healthy by going to the field keep fit and make use of other sporting facilities on campus. Off campus students may get discouraged when they consider the money they will spend to transport themselves to school just to engage in sporting activities. Most times you find girls jugging early in the morning within the campus but this may be difficult to do off campus when the risk of coming out to jug early in the morning is considered.
- Security
The high level of security on campus cannot be compared to what obtains off campus. Female students in the hostel are always free to walk to class to read and return to the hostel at any time they wish, even when it is too late. The campus security outfit is always on alert within the school premises.
- Unlimited Privacy
Female hostels have rules. Boys cannot go into the hostels at specific times. You enjoy your privacy in the hostel more than those residing off campus.
Quick Response from University management on facility development
Because the hostels are owned by the university, management pays prompt attention to facility development and repairs in the hostels making sure that it is always conducive for habitation. When for instance, a toilet facility breaks down or the roof is leaking during rainy season, the university authorities swing into action when notified. Hostels are even upgraded and repainted from time to time. But some off-campus lodges are owned by “Shylock” landlords whose only interest is how to collect rent from students without minding the decay in facilities.
Early marriage
This is one of the minor findings by the research group. Because of the highly moral nature of female students living in the hostel, reports say that most of these girls marry early after graduation or get engaged (or spoken for) while in school). This, according to the study, is because when men outside hear that a female student lived in the hostel throughout her stay in school, it paints a picture of decency, humility, homeliness and in some cases, holiness about that girl. So men rush for them either while they are still in school or shortly after graduation.