Blog Posts

10 On-Campus Resources to Be Aware Of

Your classes are just one educational resource you’ll receive at university. To improve your understanding of material, enhance your academic skills, and prepare for your graduation, there are a number of other resources on campus that you should be taking advantage of. 1. Tutoring Never feel that you must struggle with a difficult class alone. If you need extra support to understand the material or apply the skills you’re learning, a tutor could be just what you need. Ask about tutoring services on campus to find the most cost-effective options. You may even be able to choose between one-on-one tutoring and group sessions. 2. Careers Support It’s worth thinking about what you want to do after you finish university a while before your graduation date approaches. Head to the careers centre on campus to discuss your options. You can also use the services to search for openings, fine tune your resume, and ace interviews — for jobs or internships now and after you graduate. 3. Writing Centre Most universities offer academic services to help students with their writing skills. You can find support for writing all kinds of papers, starting with creating an outline and ending with proofreading your work before you submit it. Students who are nearing the end of their degrees tend to find the writing centre particularly useful for preparing their thesis or research project, as it can be difficult to know where to begin, how to structure the different sections, and how to fit everything together. 4. Academic Advisors Whenever you have a question about your education, turn to the academic advisory team. Advisors can help you with things like creating an appropriate class schedule, dropping a class, switching majors, and meeting your academic goals. 5. Office Hours with Professors Your professors are another top source for academic advice. They can help you with doubts and questions related to a specific class — all you need to do is pay them a visit during office hours. Plus, office hours are a great way to connect to your professors on a deeper level, which could be useful if you’re looking to pursue research in a similar field or you just want to start building your professional network. 6. Financial Aid Office It’s possible that your financial situation will change during your time at university. Besides, it’s always worth seeing if you qualify for new scholarships and grants to save money. Visit the financial aid office if you ever want information about what support you qualify for or to manage your current loans. 7. Library Even though you can gain a vast amount of information online, your campus library can be important during your time at university. It’s somewhere you can focus on your studies in peace, collaborate on a group project, or ask librarians to help you locate the information you need to complete a paper. 8. Sport Facilities If you’re not an athlete yourself, you may have neglected the sports facilities on campus. This means you could be missing out on the opportunity to use the gym or attend fitness classes to get in shape, stay healthy, and reduce stress. 9. Mental Health Services Many universities offer counselling services at low prices to help students manage their mental health, cope with negative emotions, and deal with anxieties. You’ll likely also have access to hotlines you can call if you want confidential support or need to talk to someone during a crisis. 10. IT Department If you’re unsure about how to perform a particular IT task or your computer suffers a crash, reach out to the IT department. Someone will likely be able to help you over the phone to resolve the issue. Another way to receive great resources that enhance the student experience is to live in student housing. For Brock University off-campus housing, there’s no better option than Foundry Lofts. In addition to your private bedroom in a suite, you’ll have access to onsite amenities like a study zone and fitness centre . Join the waitlist to be the first to hear when a space opens up .

How to Handle Homesickness When You Go to College

Heading off to college is a time of mixed emotions. You’re likely to be excited about starting this next chapter of your life, but you’ll also miss the family and friends you’re leaving behind. This often leads to homesickness — and it can hit you unexpectedly. Luckily, there are several things you can do to cope. 1. Recognize That You’re Feeling Homesick The first step is to recognize that what you’re experiencing is homesickness. It may manifest itself as grief or feelings of loss — after all, you’ve lost your sense of belonging, familiar places and people, and the comfort that comes from having a regular routine. Although you may not realize it, you’ll be craving stability, predictability, and consistency. For this reason, homesickness may strike particularly hard at certain times of the day, such as when you’re usually engaged in a particular activity. The good news is that homesickness is not a clinical diagnosis. It tends to be short lived — and it’s within your power to overcome it. 2. Start New Rituals To regain a sense of security and regularity, it helps to begin establishing new routines. You can do these routines alone or with friends, but they should start almost as soon as you wake up and end right before you go to bed. If there are certain times of the year when you find that homesickness returns (such as around a particular holiday), create new traditions or share ones from home with your roommates. 3. Prepare Your Favourite Meals It’s comforting to eat meals like those you often have with your family. Ask your parents for recipes and learn to prepare these dishes yourself. Cooking will be a useful skill to have all your life, as you’ll be able to whip up your favourite foods whenever you’re feeling low. 4. Explore Your Surroundings Making your new home familiar will also help reduce homesickness. Learn where to find various places on campus and search for interesting spots around your college town, such as parks, coffee shops, and hiking trails. 5. Chat with Friends and Family Arrange to have regular calls with friends from your hometown and family members. Friends who are attending other universities will also be feeling homesick, meaning they’ll benefit from a chat just as much as you. 6. Make New Friends Try to resist the urge to rely heavily on people back home, though — it’s also important to start making new friends. Attend events, join clubs, and volunteer to expand your social circle and meet people with similar interests. 7. Talk About Your Feelings Since your friends are likely going through the same, don’t be afraid to talk about your homesickness. You may also have siblings who have already been through the experience who can give you advice about what worked for them. 8. Reach Out for Support If homesickness causes your anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues to worsen, reach out for support from a professional. Your college likely has counselling services available to students. You’ll suffer less from homesickness if you find an apartment that you love. Most people find it uncomfortable living on campus due to the limited privacy and cramped space, but having your own room in student housing can lead to a great college experience. An alternative to Niagara College residence is Foundry Lofts. You’ll be able to meet and hang out with other students in places like the games room, movie theatre, and fireside lounge or you can relax on your own in your spacious bedroom and living room. Contact us to join the waitlist.

Practical Move-In Day Tips for Student Apartments

Moving out of your parents’ home and heading off to university is exciting — but it also requires a great deal of preparation. You’ll need to make sure that you bring the right things, arrive at an appropriate time of day, and recruit someone to help you carry your belongings. Here are a few things to do to ensure move-in day goes smoothly. 1. Decide What to Pack Create a list of everything you’ll need to take with you. Base this on what you know about your apartment — for instance, its size, whether it’s furnished or unfurnished, and what exactly is included. To make sure you don’t forget anything essential, use the list your school provides, search for packing lists online, or ask friends what they’re taking. 2. Figure Out What to Leave Behind Just as important as making sure you bring everything you need is leaving behind the things you don’t need. If you’re going home between semesters, you should leave behind any clothing you won’t use this season. In addition, decide what you can purchase when you arrive, such as stationery, cleaning supplies, and groceries. Add these to a shopping list and head to a nearby store soon after you move in. 3. Reach Out to Your Roommates Your roommates may be your friends or they could be people your student housing has assigned you to share with. In either case, it’s worth setting up a group chat where you can coordinate your move-ins. One thing to talk about is what each of you will bring to the apartment. For instance, you’ll be able to share between you things like a coffee maker, microwave, and vacuum cleaner, meaning it doesn’t make sense to bring more than one. You should also decide when each of you will move into the apartment. If all of you will be arriving on the same day, at least make sure you come at different times — as all of you trying to move your belongings in at once could be a challenge. Bear in mind that it may take y ou a couple hours to finish moving in, especially if you’re bringing furniture. 4. Bring Help Ask a parent, sibling, or friend to come with you on move-in day to help you carry your belongings. Don’t bring too many people, as this will mean you have less space in the car for your possessions and may even make carrying belongings into your apartment more difficult. However, do make sure you have enough helping hands to carry heavy items. 5. Avoid Boxes The problem with boxes is they create a large amount of waste that you need to find a way to dispose of. Storage bins are much more practical, as you can use them to keep your apartment tidy once you’ve moved in. Plus, they make moving out easier — whether that’s when you find better housing or after you graduate. Before you even start thinking about move-in day, you need to have accommodation lined up. The most convenient, comfortable, and affordable type of accommodation is student rentals. St. Catharines students can find off-campus housing at Foundry Lofts. You’ll have your own room in either a furnished or unfurnished apartment with three or four roommates. You’ll also be able to meet other students in places like the games room, fitness facilities, movie theatre, and fireside lounge. Join the waitlist to be the first to hear when a space opens up .

Full- vs. Part-Time College: Which Is Right for You?

A major decision when you start college is choosing between full- and part-time study. Enrolling as a part-time student will mean you have more time available for other activities, whereas full-time students spend more time in classes and dedicate a large amount of the rest of their time to studying. To figure out what would be right for you, it’s important to compare the advantages of both options. Advantages of Full-Time College The main benefit of studying full time is that you’ll graduate earlier, which means you’ll be able to start working in your desired field sooner. Whereas you may be able to find a related job now, it’s likely that your dream job requires a credential. Another advantage is that there will be a greater range of scholarships available to you if you maintain full-time status. If you’re awarded one of these scholarships, you may significantly reduce how much you pay in tuition. Finally, being a full-time student may be a requirement for your family to receive certain tax breaks, which would save you even more money. Advantages of Part-Time College An obvious advantage of being a part-time student is you’ll have a flexible schedule. You can create a class schedule that works for you, perhaps by having a couple classes a day or by packing a few classes into the same days and keeping the rest of the week free for other activities. This will increase your availability for work — and with a decent job, you could earn enough to pay for your tuition and other expenses while you’re still studying, meaning you graduate without debt. For this reason, studying part time can be a good option for students who receive a good job offer or are unable to receive any substantial scholarships. Combining the Two Options There’s no reason why you can’t switch between being a full-time student and a part-time student. For instance, you may like to take an opportunity one semester that means you’ll be unable to study full time (such as a research position, internship, or volunteer work). You could also end up becoming a part-time student if you find that one of your classes is particularly challenging and you need a lower workload or if you decide to drop a couple classes after it’s too late to sign up for others instead. On the flip side , you could decide to take just a few semesters full time to push your graduation date forward. Full- and part-time students alike find it more comfortable to live off campus. Look for housing that’s near campus, has great amenities, and will provide you with your own bedroom. For Brock off-campus housing that meets all these criteria, there’s Foundry Lofts. Our student community is a 10-minute walk from campus and features spacious apartments with either four or five private bedrooms. On site, we have restaurants, a study zone, a games room, a fitness centre , and much more. Contact us to join the waitlist to secure a unit as soon as one becomes available.

How to Become a Better Negotiator

One thing you may not learn at university is how to negotiate. However, this is a skill that is often crucial throughout life, particularly when you enter the workforce. For instance, you may need to negotiate to gain good terms of employment or your job could involve negotiating with clients or vendors. Negotiating skills may also come in useful now, such as if you want to secure a better deal on a purchase or snag an interesting role on a group project at university. Learn how to negotiate better by follo wing these tips. 1. Prepare in Advance Whenever you know you’re going to be in a situation where you’ll need to negotiate, come up with a strategy ahead of time. Determine what outcome you’re hoping to achieve, where you’d be willing to compromise, and how you’ll make your case. Finally, consider how the other person could answer and how you, in turn, will respond. 2. Figure Out Alternatives Think about what you’ll do if the other person denies your request. You should have ideas for alternatives you can ask for instead. Another option could be to find what you want from another source. 3. Take Things Slowly When you’re anxious, it’s normal to rush through a negotiation — but this is unlikely to lead to a good outcome. Instead, deliver your argument calmly, take the time to listen to the response, and, if you don’t receive the answer you wanted, give yourself time to consider any counteroffer. 4. Value Yourself It’s impossible to negotiate well if you lack self-confidence. Believe in yourself: if what you’re asking for is reasonable, you should feel that you deserve what you’re requesting . In fact, you may like to start the negotiation by asking for slightly more than you think you deserve — just in case the other person values you more highly than you do yourself! 5. Make the Deal Worthwhile Instead of simply asking for what you want, explain why the deal would be beneficial to the other person. If you’re unsure about what you could offer in return, ask. 6. Accept a Refusal Graciously If the person you’re negotiating with refuses your request and has nothing you’re willing to accept as an alternative, you may need to concede that what you want is not going to be possible. When it’s clear that this is the case, the best thing to do is move on — begging and pleading will only lead to resentment. Learn from the experience and consider how you could approach a similar negotiation in the future differently to see better results. One occasion when students often feel the need to negotiate is securing a lease on rooms for rent. St Catharines students, however, are in luck — you can find affordable housing at Foundry Lofts. Our leases are all inclusive, meaning the rent covers furnishings, utilities, and internet. Plus, we have a wide range of excellent amenities to sweeten the deal, including a movie theatre, onsite parking, a fitness centre , and an outdoor courtyard. Book your tour now.

4 Challenges Students Face When Writing Papers & How to Overcome Them

You may feel like you’re the only one struggling when you see your peers handing in assignments early, never requesting extensions, and taking paper writing in their stride. The truth is, though, that many students find writing papers to be one of the most difficult aspects of college. In particular, there are a few challenges that can make finishing a paper a nightmare — but the good news is there are ways to overcome all of them. 1. Poor Time Management When a professor assigns you a paper, it’s common to underestimate how much time you’ll need to write it. If you’ve been attending all your classes and studying hard, the question may seem quite straightforward. As a result, you may put off getting started to spend more time with your friends or to attend events on campus. However, once you sit down to write the paper, it’s likely you’ll find it takes significantly more time than you were expecting. This can easily lead to disaster. Luckily, there’s an easy fix: start working on your paper almost immediately . There’s no disadvantage to finishing early, and the end result will be much better. 2. Writer’s Block Of course, you could start working on the assignment when you have plenty of time to spare only to find that you’re unable to think of anything to say. This tends to happen when you’re overthinking the paper — it becomes this huge, important thing in your mind, whereas it’s actually just one more college assignment. Reminding yourself that it’s not such a big deal can help. If the due date is still far in the future, you can afford to just jot down some ideas for now. You may be pleasantly surprised to find these ideas quickly become fully formed and you make decent progress almost immediately . 3. A Lack of Literature Another issue may be that you’re struggling to find literature from credible sources to support your arguments or to provide the facts and statistics you need. Improving your time management can help with this: by starting early, you’ll be able to spend longer searching for appropriate literature . If you remain stuck, remember that the librarians on campus are there to help you. It may be that you’re not using the right keywords or you’re dismissing something that would meet your needs. Whatever the problem , a librarian can help. 4. Drifting from the Question It’s easy to become distracted by an interesting fact or idea you encounter while researching your paper and end up taking the assignment in a completely new direction. However, if you fail to answer the question, your grade will suffer. This is especially likely to happen when you’re new to writing long papers — you’ll learn how to stay on track as you gain more experience. For now, though, the best way to overcome this challenge is to regularly return to the question and think about whether what you’re wr iting is relevant. Possibly the most important factor when it comes to writing papers is having somewhere quiet where you can work undisturbed. You can find just what you’re looking for at Foundry Lofts. Our alternative to Niagara College residence provides you with a private bedroom in a fully-furnished apartment with just three or four roommates. If you need a change of scenery, you can also head to one of our private study spaces. Book a tour to check out all the great facilities.