By Briana Keenan
Correspondent
Students in the College’s Career and Community Studies program will have the option to live in residential dorms starting in the 2025-26 academic year, according to Student Life Coordinator Victoria Swift. This decision was made after Swift and other staff from the program met with staff from Residential Education and Housing, who agreed it would be more inclusive.
CCS is a four-year program at the College where students with intellectual disabilities ages 18-25 learn about independent living, career readiness and adult life. Most students apply during their senior year of high school and, if accepted, graduate with a certificate upon completion of the program.
Currently, many students in the CCS program live in one of eight houses located on Pennington Road and Carlton Avenue, which are about a 10-minute walk from campus, according to students who live there.
“The ultimate driving factor for this is the ever-growing initiative for diversity and inclusion,” Swift told The Signal. “CCS students have to be considered as well.”
Swift said the pitch to administration to allow CCS students to live on campus began in 2011 when she was a student life mentor. She, along with CCS Director Jerry Petroff and CCS Assistant Director Amy Schuler, met with Kelly Hennessy, assistant vice president of student development, and Tina Tormey, director of residential housing and education, who gave the final approval.
“We’ve been dreaming of this,” Swift said.
The community mentor role still exists within the program today; they are students at the College who “assist and guide” CCS students “towards daily independence,” according to the CCS page on the College’s website. Next year, when CCS students will be allowed to live on-campus, this role will continue to exist even though some students will be in a residential hall living with community advisors and community mentors rather than one of the off-campus houses.
“It will be a collaborative effort to support all residents,” Swift said. “Community mentors will live with CCS residents alongside the CAs.”
Next fall, three houses will remain on Pennington Road for CCS students to live in, with two being for first-year students. Swift said the goal of these houses is to “provide a home-y, family space and prepare students for life in the dorms.”
Those who choose to live on-campus, however, will be assigned to dorms based on grade levels. Sophomore CCS students will be placed in New Residence Hall, and juniors and seniors will be placed into mixed cohort housing in Hausdoerffer and Phelps Halls, as well as the Townhouses, Swift said.
Gracie Harkins, a junior fine arts major and CCS academic mentor, said she is excited that her friends now will have the opportunity to live on-campus if they feel that it is a good option for them.
“Living in on-campus housing allows the students to have more accessibility walking to classes, especially in bad weather, and be more involved on campus,” Harkins said. “The students will not have to worry about crossing streets or walking far at night time after class or club meetings, which makes it safer for the CCS students also.”
Ciara Corbett, a senior secondary special education and English major, is a current CCS community mentor. Although she will most likely continue this role in an off-campus house as a freshman mentor, she expressed the importance of this change.
“Segregated housing has no place on our campus and I have no doubt that creating integrated living spaces will benefit our entire student body,” Corbett said. “Ultimately, we must refer to the opinions of each CCS student on this major decision; they can decide what will be best for themselves and their goals.”
Cooper Scott, a freshman CCS student, said that he will be living on-campus next year.
“I feel a little nervous living on-campus next,” he said. “I will miss the off-campus houses. I like the house I am in.”
Quinn Gallagher, a sophomore CCS student, also plans on living on-campus, and feels ready for the new change.
“I’m not nervous,” he said. “I’m actually pretty excited.”
Grace Gagliardi, a junior in the CCS program, also expressed excitement but shared Scott’s feelings of missing the off-campus housing, too.
“I would love to be a part of the CCS on-campus housing for next year,” she said. “I’ll miss living on Pennington next year. I can’t believe it!”
Some CCS students have decided that remaining off-campus works better for them. Victoria Billyard, a sophomore CCS student, wants to continue living off-campus for now.
“I like to live off-campus because it is better for me and it’s convenient that my parents drive me to school,” she said. “I hope to move on-campus when I’m a senior but I’m really not sure yet.”
The housing selection process will follow a very similar timeline to the one that students who are currently living on-campus are following. CCS staff will continue to assign housing based on where they see the students best fit, and they will work as a team for a positive and supportive experience, according to Swift.
“We wanted to do our due diligence in being thoughtful and mindful,” Swift said.
Corbett emphasized the need to be mindful as this change occurs.
“It is essential that we find ways to ensure that core aspects of the program, like fostering social, culinary and other independent living skills, are thoughtfully and successfully carried out in these new environments,” she said.
In addition to being mindful about the program itself, Corbett said other residential students on campus need to be mindful when working toward inclusion.
“The same discrimination will persist if we do not all work hard to ensure that CCS and other TCNJ students are given opportunities to create genuine friendships while living under TCNJ ResEd,” she said.
There are positive benefits of CCS students being able to live on-campus next fall — not just for them, but for the entire campus community, according to Swift. In addition to independent living skills being fostered in the residential halls for the CCS students, those who are not in the program can continue to be a better citizen of their community and work toward inclusion and equity.
“I just want to emphasize how wonderful this opportunity is going to be,” Swift said. “It will allow for a really enriching and positive experience for residential students and staff.”
Editors Note: This story has been updated to correct that Ciara Corbett is a senior, not a junior.
