Changing spaces: Part 3 of 3

During her four years at Syracuse University, Natthakan Garunrangseewong has lived in an on-campus residence hall, mostly due to convenience.

The senior magazine journalism major currently lives in a single in Ernie Davis Hall, and with the exception of spending a semester abroad, she has always chosen an on-campus option for housing. But she is in the minority of SU students who choose this option.

Seniors made up only 6 percent of students living in on-campus housing as of Oct. 1, Eileen Simmons, director of housing, meal plans and ID card services, said in an email.

This fall, Kimmel, Marion and Lyons halls will join Watson, Walnut and Washington Arms halls as upperclassmen-only housing, Simmons said. The housing department defines upperclassmen as non-freshmen. 

Approximately 2,400 juniors and seniors are currently living on campus this semester and prefer options like single rooms in residence halls and the South Campus apartments, Simmons said. Simmons said she thought private rooms and bathrooms, as well as cooking space, attracted seniors to certain on-campus housing options. 

These buildings, however, do not cut it for some SU seniors. Jacqueline Klingler, a senior international relations and Spanish major, said she wanted to try something different after living in on-campus housing for three years. Klingler said she would have preferred a larger variety of room options.

‘The lack of diversity on Main Campus was definitely something I considered when moving off campus,’ she said. ‘As a senior, I really wanted my own space.’

Klingler also said living off campus was a cheaper option for her in the long run. It is easier to work a lot of hours during the semester to pay her rent, she said, than to take out loans to pay for on-campus housing.

But Klingler noticed some downsides in her decision to live off campus. She chose a house on Redfield Place, more than a mile walk down Euclid Avenue to campus. Her street barely gets plowed during storms, making travel back and forth from campus difficult, she said.

‘Especially with the snow, it takes me half an hour to get to my house from campus when it snows,’ she said.

But the long walk in the snow is worth it because rent is low compared to that of other students who live on campus, Klingler said.

Simmons, SU’s housing director, said the prices of on-campus housing at SU are comparable with off-campus housing options.

‘Price comparison is difficult to measure since university housing includes utilities and we are 10-month opportunities,’ she said. ‘Certainly, there are cheaper opportunities and very expensive ones.’

Katie Lewinski, a senior class marshal and policy studies and international relations major, lives in a single in Ernie Davis. Having the privacy of a single made the decision to stay on campus easier for Lewinski, although she said she believes living on campus could be more expensive for students. 

Lewinski said she thinks the on-campus housing options for student are limited by what SU offers. The only choice she considered, she said, was a single, and she thinks that’s the only choice most other seniors consider as well. 

‘It’s part of the stigma: You don’t want to be a senior living in an open double,’ she said.

If SU could match what Emily Romano, a senior geology and geography major, is paying now, she said she would have considered staying in on-campus housing. But Romano likes being off campus because she can control what she eats, how she decorates and who she lives with, she said. 

Romano said her off-campus apartment on Comstock Avenue is significantly cheaper than any option SU offers.

‘I have yet to meet someone who pays equal to or less than what I pay,’ she said. 

The university is always thinking of ways to satisfy student needs, Simmons said. She said she believes options offered at SU are comparable with other institutions. 

‘Based on room types and upperclassman needs, I believe we satisfy many students,’ she said.

Simmons said SU is always assessing student needs when looking to construct or renovate residence halls. University officials take student requests, room types and bathroom designs into account before planning accordingly, she said.

But 42 percent of the senior class at Duke University stays on campus for all four years, said M.J. Williams, director of accommodations, administration and finance at Duke. Juniors and seniors generally live in on-campus apartments, with many also living in quads. Duke houses about 5,500 students and has a three-year residency requirement for undergraduate students, as well as a guarantee of housing for all four years, Williams said. 

Upperclassman residence halls at George Washington University are apartment-style residence halls, housing two to four students, said Tawanna Lee, associate director of GW’s housing programs. Due to housing constraints in the area and large class sizes, students are not guaranteed housing for all four years, she said.

However, in recent years, the school has not had to turn students away, she said. More than half of the juniors and seniors at GW stay on campus after their two-year housing requirement ends because of the expense of living in an off-campus housing option, she said. 

‘Living in the nation’s capital, particularly in close proximity to campus, can be expensive without factoring in other costs such as commuting, furniture and utilities,’ she said. 

Still, students at SU said they would prefer having more on-campus housing options similar to those offered at Duke and GW.

Garunrangseewong, the senior magazine journalism major, said she would like SU to provide options similar to South Campus apartments on Main Campus. 

‘I would just like a kitchen and a bathroom. If they can build a dorm on campus with bathrooms or a kitchen, that would be really convenient,’ she said.

Jon Barnhart, former Student Association president, said the expense is one downfall he has seen during his four years in on-campus housing. 

Barnhart has lived in a single since his sophomore year. He said he has noticed the price of a single increase every year and is not sure why it kept happening.

Still, Barnhart said he has enjoyed the convenience of staying on campus and always having the campus and dining halls nearby. Adding options like the Park Point Syracuse apartment complex and University Village Apartments to university housing seems like a step in the right direction, as they add more apartment-style options for students, Barnhart said.  

He said: ‘It seems like SU is kind of picking up that model or at least experimenting with it.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on March 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani