Over spring break, I took another small step into adulthood: apartment/house hunting.

While this is by no means supposed to be a permanent residence, I’m taking it pretty seriously.

I have roommates lined up.

We’ve discussed what we think is important.

Something within our price range.

Something nice.

Somewhere in a convenient location central to where all three roommates might need to be, whether it’s Baker’s campus, the University of Kansas’ campus or work.

Something that already has a washer and dryer.

We narrowed our options and went to see the properties we were interested in.

To be honest, I was pretty surprised with the quality of our options.

My roommates and I would each be paying less than $300 per month.

But when the woman from the management facility presented us with applications, we were caught off guard.

The four requirements to live in the properties were to have a good credit score, pass a background check, have a combined monthly income triple to that of the rent and have two years’ worth of satisfactory rental history.

The first three seem like a piece of cake.

I pay the few credit card bills I have on time.

My record is spotless.

Even with my part-time job, I can easily cover my share of the rent every month, although this does make me slightly nervous since I’ve never had to pay rent.

Which brings me to the fourth requirement. This instantly sent up a large red flag.

With my time spent on Baker’s campus, I’ve been unable to accumulate two years of rental history, thus making me seek a co-signature from my parents.

While I understand why Baker pushes so hard to be a strictly residential campus, and while it claims to be looking out for students’ best interests with its requirements, such strict enforcement of off-campus requirements may do more harm than good.

I’m 21 years old, close to graduating college and only a few months away from moving into my own, non-Baker-owned home.

And yet, somehow, I will still have to feel as if I rely on my parents to co-sign on my apartment.

Besides the few credit card bills mentioned earlier, I’ve never had to pay bills.

Of all of the lessons that living in the residence halls is supposed to teach us, somehow it doesn’t seem to include things we really need to know about living on our own.

Sure, after four years of living with roommates, I have a good grasp on how to deal with roommates.

However, things like how to manage money in order to pay monthly rent on top of everything else we may have to pay for – car payments, bills, insurance, etc. – is still a mystery.

Or how to be completely responsible for ourselves. Living in residence halls is apparently supposed to teach us how to live on our own with no parental supervision, but instead, we have the university’s supervision.

For example, I’m a senior, and in a few short months, I’m going to be out on my own, paying rent and utility bills.

Yet, apparently, I can’t even be trusted to set my thermostat at a responsible and reasonable temperature.

Baker doesn’t need to encourage its students to live off campus by any means.

I even understand taking away partial financial aid for those who don’t meet any of the current requirements to live off campus.

But if a student feels like he or she would be better off living somewhere other than in the residence halls and apartments, then the university shouldn’t prevent it.