Parents, Roomates, College Bound Freshman and Facebook

Posted on August 9, 2007

USA Today has an interesting story about how parents are investigating their college-bound child's future roommate on Facebook. Some of the parents are not liking what they see and are requesting a roommate change with the college.

As housing officials at colleges around the country send out roommate assignments to freshmen this summer, a growing number of schools say they're getting more requests for changes - from parents who don't like the roommates' Facebook profiles.
"They were getting an impression - false or accurate - of what the student would be like to live with," says Magda Manetas of The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
About a dozen other colleges contacted by USA TODAY report similar complaints. And this may be just the beginning: Some schools already have mailed roommate assignments for fall, but many more say they will be sending them out in the next few weeks.
Housing officials say parents who cite Facebook most frequently mention party-related content and photos as their primary concerns. Parents sometimes see cups in photos and make the leap to alcohol and drugs, Manetas says.
But Robin Berkowitz-Smith of Syracuse University says race, religion and sexual orientation are the top three concerns from parents contacting officials there.

Once again social networks are having a major impact on the lives of young adults and their parents. The temptation to investigate their child's future roommate is probably too difficult to avoid. There is the possibility that some of the change requests are being made by the parent on behalf of their child. In this case it may actually prevent a roommate change that would have happened anyway after a difficult first few weeks. There is also simply some nosey parental interference going on here.