University of Southern Maine wants to make sure that new students are comfortable in their space or else it might just lose enrollment.

(After all how can you really achieve academic excellence if you are not comfortable in your space?)

So school officials are trying to find a contractor to provide a “virtual viewing system” that will let freshmen see their dorm rooms to make sure they’re comfortable with them before they sign up.

“A virtual room viewing platform enables students to see their space prior to arrival on campus,” the school’s bid request states.

USM is just one of dozens of campuses nationwide experimenting with using virtual spaces to make sure students are happy.

Students at dozens of schools, including Stanford, Columbia, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Northwestern and the University of Minnesota first began doing it to cope with the COVID epidemic.

The trend took off like wildfire.

Virtual-viewing space technology makes sure students get to see where they’re going before they get there.

Oh well, before we get too cynical let’s invite an academic in to our space. Meet Melanie Hibbert, director of Barnard College’s Sloate Media Center and Instructional Media and Technology Services,

Virtual campuses “create community,” and allow students “to interact with peers in a different space beyond the ‘Zoom landscape’ in which we all find ourselves,” Hibbert told Smithsonian magazine when the virtual viewing trend first began.

Now, don’t we feel better? If you think college kids here in Maine are getting too picky about their digs, consider that down in Mississippi, they’re actually hiring interior decorators for their dorm rooms! Anyway…

USM said it is trying its best to focus on making students feel comfortable – if they don’t, members of the incoming class of college students might just choose somewhere else to go where they’ll feel more, well, at home.

“Being able to provide students with additional ways to gather information about their space such as the furniture in it, the size and dimension of the space helps students take control of their own information-gathering and helps the Residential Life Department have more time to devote to answering specific student concerns,” USM officials explained.“

“Also, from a recruitment and retention initiative it enables students to gain a greater understanding of their space prior to selecting or being placed and increases the likelihood that they are in a preferred space and are thus more likely to retain at the institution,” the school said in its bid-solicitation packet.

A “virtual room viewing platform” that lets students see their dorm room before arriving on campus is often referred to as a “virtual tour platform” or “campus room viewing tool.”

The technology most commonly uses 360-degree panoramic images to let students virtually walk through their future room and see its layout, furniture, and surrounding environment.

Students from anywhere in the world can explore dorm rooms at their own pace, without needing to visit the campus in person.