For the upcoming Thanksgiving break, students must vacate their residence halls by 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, and they will remain closed until Friday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m.

I’m not complaining about the early closing time for the residence halls, because it’s getting me out of my classes on Friday — but that’s the problem. The early closing time forces students traveling home that live on-campus to either leave a day early, or find somewhere to sit around with their luggage on Saturday if they’re leaving State College after 10 a.m. For winter and spring breaks, the residence halls close later in the day, at 4 p.m. and 12 p.m. respectively.

“If the time is later, then people will linger longer and it takes even longer to secure the buildings,” said Assignments Office Assistant Director Kate Kishbaugh.

Residence Life staff does a walkthrough of every room in the residence halls to ensure all students are out of the building, Kishbaugh said.

“I understand why this can be frustrating to some students, but we need to make sure no one is left in the buildings and that we have enough time to take care of that task,” Kishbaugh said.

Securing all of the rooms on every floor of every building on campus must be extremely time-consuming for the Residence Life staff. Just make sure you set those alarms for Saturday morning if you aren’t leaving town early.