This is an old article about student housing careers from the Chronicle, but I thought it was worth linking to:

Careers in Student Housing

In his junior year at Ohio Dominican College, John (Jack) E. Collins could not afford to live on campus and had to live at home. But he grew tired of missing parties and friends. So when the college offered him a chance to live in the dorms and work as a resident assistant in his senior year, he accepted.

"I saw it as a way to move onto campus and get more involved in what was going on in college," says Mr. Collins, who graduated from the college, now Ohio Dominican University, in 1969. "At that point I never realized it would lead to my life's work." Read entire article at the Chronicle