My grandmother’s funeral was sad, but not because her life was cut short; 85 years, six children and seven grandchildren prove that. Her funeral was sad because we had all assumed that it would happen another day. Not today. I didn’t visit her in the nursing home because adjusting to college life was more important. Because the Metro stop was too far away. Because I was young and busy and had all the time in the world. Because there would always be more time. Tomorrow. So now tomorrow is today, my grandmother is no longer here, and I can never tell myself that I will visit her later.

I didn’t believe in the Wash. U. bubble at first, because the campus seemed small and the city beyond it seemed huge. Now, though, there are classes and exams and parties and a million other activities to fill my time. If I can’t fit everything into today, then I will stay up all night until today becomes tomorrow. The Wash. U. bubble keeps us so fully wrapped in our own lives that sometimes we forget about life outside. Outside the Wash. U. bubble, there are wars. There are earthquakes. People die. This is not to say that nothing of importance happens within the bubble; of course our lives here are significant, and our purpose legitimate. While we are gaining knowledge and growing into ourselves, however, life outside the bubble goes on.

If I realized yesterday what I know today, I can’t say that I would have acted a whole lot differently; I still would have been busy, stressed and sleep-deprived. But I would have gone to visit my grandma. I would have reminded myself that just because it was my brother’s 22nd birthday did not make us safe from death. So I may have no authority to say this, but I will anyway. Take full advantage of what the bubble provides, but don’t forget the rest. Call home. Visit your grandparents. Skype your friends from high school. Today is here, and there is time.

Kate is a freshman in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at kemarcal@artsciwustl.edu.

Let’s say a freshman requests a triple room in a traditional-style dorm. He or she will pay $5,558 for the year. Sophomore year comes around, and this somewhat more affordable housing option is no longer available. The next cheapest on-campus option is a traditional-style double at $7,360 a year. If by junior year, that student wants to live in Millbrook, he or she will have to pay an extra $1,000 for a double or an additional $2,000 for a single. These numbers do not even include the newest housing options offered by the University. The brand new Village East is the most expensive housing option yet, offering only singles at a whopping $10,906. Over the course of those three or four years, the student’s housing costs have essentially doubled. Why is the University only building more expensive housing instead of making the effort to cut costs and provide more affordable on-campus options? How do these new housing options pave the way for a debt-free student body (a goal of the University’s new Plan For Excellence)?

The Office of Residential Life consistently urges for diversity and community in on-campus housing, but how much diversity is there if students in financial need are being driven off campus by exorbitant housing costs? Nine months of rent (plus utilities) for an apartment two blocks away is about $5,000. That’s less than half the cost of a room in Village East! Tuition and food costs are only going up; shouldn’t the University be striving to keep prices down wherever possible? And even if financial aid often goes toward minimizing rising housing costs, it would be money better spent on a more practical housing option. The new Village East housing offers dishwashers, bath tubs, big beds and leather couches—sounds great—but which students are really going to be able to afford this new deluxe style of living? Where’s the diversity now?

Instead of attempting to boost its image through fancy housing, perhaps the University should be seeking to accommodate all students from every financial background. Instead of on-campus housing being split between new and old or expensive and less expensive, housing should be uniform and cost-effective in order to be affordable to as many students as possible. Only after taking these steps can the University claim to be building a truly diverse on-campus living community.