Moving away to college can be an emotional, exciting, and scary time for first-time students, especially when it is a long distance move. Often, these college freshmen aren’t just leaving their families and everything that is familiar but also their beloved pets. In most cases, pets are not permitted in the dorms. But what if that all changed? In fact, it has.
There are a few schools throughout the United States that now allow pets in the dorms. Moving to college along with their pets allows students a sense of “home” and familiarity. There are about a dozen universities across the country that allow pets ranging from caged gerbils, rats, dogs, and cats. Such dorms could also become recruitment tools for potential students.
Moving, as well as the transition from home to campus life can be stressful and what better way to help alleviate this stress than with a pet? Although only a handful of schools across the nation allow pets in the dorms, this could be a changing practice. Of course, students would have to pay a surcharge and agree to certain rules in order to house their pets as well. Here are a few:
Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida
Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri
The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
UCLA, Pasadena, California
Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania
Principa College, Elsah, Illinois
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
State University of New York at Canton, New York
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
So now you can rest assured that there are schools out there that can meet your needs as a pet owner. And no matter where you move, if you need to take a pet with you, speak to your local moving company for advice on how to make the move a little easier on the animal member of your family.
– Lance Grooms
