Across Minnesota and the country, high school seniors are making one of the most consequential decisions of their young lives: where to go to college. As they weigh the options – costs, location, programs, flexibility — it’s worth pausing to ask what a residential college is really meant to offer.
Online education is efficient. Residential education is formative. The difference matters.
It’s now possible to earn a degree without leaving your bedroom. For many students, that convenience opens doors and offers flexibility in ways we should celebrate. But higher education has never been just about efficiency.
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The question isn’t whether learning can happen remotely (it can), but what kind of formation we hope a college education will provide.
At the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, residential life is not a side benefit. It is central to our mission. Rooted in Benedictine practices, our campuses are organized around a simple but demanding idea: Living, learning and growing together shapes character in ways coursework alone cannot.
On a residential campus, learning doesn’t stop at the classroom door. It unfolds in residence halls, dining spaces, rehearsals, labs, and in the late-night conversations that drift from homework into questions about life, values and community. Students test ideas with peers who think differently. They listen. They speak. They adapt. Learning becomes part of daily life, not just something to check off a list.
Benedictine practice emphasizes stability — the habit of being present with one another and a commitment to place and community. Residential campuses make that presence possible. When students live where they learn, they are known. Faculty, staff, neighbors and classmates notice when someone struggles or thrives. Belonging is built in small, steady ways: a question asked over breakfast, a hand offered when a project feels overwhelming, a roommate who listens when things get hard. That sense of connection supports persistence, confidence and growth.
Living alongside people with different backgrounds, beliefs and habits teaches lessons that no classroom or simulation can provide. Day-to-day life requires patience, humility and attention to one another. Disagreements don’t happen in theory; they happen over real-life choices, from chores to group projects. Those experiences teach empathy, accountability and respect in ways that carry far beyond campus.
Students learn to welcome others and be present with them through daily life, not through lectures or slogans. That means sharing meals, listening when a roommate struggles, or making space for someone new in a group or project. In the Benedictine tradition, this practice of attentiveness and openness is called hospitality. Living together in this way shows that community isn’t built by avoiding tension but by engaging with one another honestly and humanely, and that responsibility for one another is part of everyday life.
Residential colleges also provide a bridge to adulthood. Students practice independence while surrounded by support. They manage time, relationships, conflict and responsibility – not in isolation, but in community. This supported autonomy helps young adults grow in judgment and self-awareness, preparing them for lives of leadership and service.
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At CSB and SJU, our goal is not only academic achievement. It is the formation of women and men of character who understand that their lives are bound up with the lives of others. Character is not shaped in a single course or credential. It emerges through shared meals, shared challenges, shared joys and shared responsibility for the common good.
Efficiency has its place in higher education. And most definitely, so does access. But formation takes time, presence and shared life. Residential colleges remind us of a simple truth: Education is relational. Community matters. And the difference between convenience and formation is one worth preserving.
Brian J. Bruess is the president of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, located in St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota, respectively.
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