College dorm life is something almost every high school graduate looks forward to. It’s part of the standard plan: spend the first year on campus in the dorms, meet some people and get an apartment the second year.

For students starting at Southern Methodist University in August, the plan has been changed as all freshman are now required to live on campus for their first two years. The move comes as the school gets ready to open its new $146 million dorm complex.

“We have to pay more, but I kinda wanted to stay on campus anyway to get more involved in the community,” class of 2014 graduate Amanda Woodruff said. “But now it is forced upon you, you don’t really have an option, for the people who wanted an apartment.”

Undergraduate students will be assigned to one of the dorms with the idea that students will be more tied to the campus community if they live there for two years. In addition, students will no longer be assigned rooms based on program.

“Previously, the honor students has their own dorm,” class of 2014 graduate Alexis Fuller said. “The way it will be set now, as an honors student I will stay in the same dorm as regular students and students with other majors.”

The new five dorms, which the campus will call the “residential commons” are designed to blend academic and social life. Next to the dorms is the two-story dining hall, designed to seat 500 students with a rotunda for monthly dinners. A variety of stations, seating, and TVs will also be featured in the dining hall.