Love thy neighbor—only if they’re not annoying.

As midterm comes around, some students are not only finding out how hard it is to maintain grades but also how hard it is to live with their roommates.

VSU Housing and Residence Life is offering roommate workshops for students who have never lived with a roommate prior to the beginning of the semester. Afterwards, students are encouraged to fill out roommate contract agreements.

Roommate contract agreement is the form that all freshmen are suggested to fill out before they move in. It has series of questions including personal preferences, sharing personal items, visitation and communication.

Some freshmen who move in already know who they want to room with such as someone from the same high school or same hometown, but for the people who don’t know anyone, workshops provide that opportunity.

This form gives students a way to find out what they should expect when choosing someone to room with.

If students do not fill out the contract, they will not be allowed to have guests in their residence.

There are also roommate agreement forms for upper level residence halls as well as “Common Space Use” agreements for the areas shared inside the residence such as the living room and kitchen.

Some students find that filling out the form is unnecessary.

“I don’t think it is necessary because we’re mature enough to be aware of these things listed on forms and we can take care of ourselves,” Ashley Rodgers, freshman psychology major, said.

VSU officials feel that the contract is necessary in the long run to prevent future residence problems.

“I think the roommate contract is just a paper to fill out, so that’s why we do a roommate workshop to talk about some of the issues that featured in the contract,” Sarah Van Kuiken, assistant director of residential education, said.

“Some of the typical things we see are the guest visitation problem and differences in lifestyle. Roommate conflicts usually happen between midterms and finals.

In case of roommate conflict, students have two options.

Students can discuss the situation with their resident adviser. From this point, roommate contract violations will be taken into consideration.

If it does not solve the problem, the alternative solution is for students to enroll in the roommate assistance program which is provided by Marriage and Family, a program that helps with roommate conflicts.

If the problem persists, a possible room switch can be requested from the complex director.