Housing supposed to be done by May
USU Living and Learning Center is still not finished, but plans for final touches and landscaping are expected to be finished by the end of May.
The LLC, located on the west end of campus, was supposed to be completed this semester but was held up because of problems a year ago with the foundation for the parking terrace.
Since then student housing has been working to finish as soon as possible, but three buildings still need work.
“It’s a very tight labor construction unit here in Utah,” said Steve Jensen, director of housing. “It was hard to find construction workers to finish this project,” he said. “The company is working really well with us right now trying to bring the project to a completion.”
Construction for all the buildings should be completed by the end of this month, and then it will be landscaped by the end of May.
The buildings will be finished, but will they fill up?
“There’s a whole ‘nother 300 beds, so you’re talking 300 more students than we’ve ever had before, live on campus,” said Jenn Putnam, director of admissions.
With enrollment being low in the past, it may be difficult to fill up those rooms.
“When Kermit Hall came on board they wanted to stabilize new freshman enrollment and keep it at about 2,600 new freshman each fall,” Putnam said. “We did that for the first two years and then the number of high school graduates in the state of Utah actually took a massive dip. We actually dropped from 2,600 to 2,100 in two years.”
It wasn’t just the drop in high school graduates, Utah residency laws changed and a lot of things impacted the change
“For three years straight we were below our goal by 200, then 300, then 500,” Putnam said.
This last fall, however, 500 new students came to the campus. They hope even more will enroll this fall. With the 500 student standard set, they plan on having 100 more than that with 2,700 new freshman as the ultimate goal.
“If you don’t fill the buildings for fall semester you likely won’t fill them for that academic year,” Jensen said. “We’re hoping for fall semester that we’ll have all the buildings full.”
Putnam and Jensen think that living on campus is a great alternative to off-campus housing for freshman or upperclassmen.
“It really is a bonus if you’re out for the first time on your own in a completely new place. You don’t have to worry about as much,” Putnam said.
One of the trends Putnam said she’s seen is transfer students and upper division students are not staying on campus. To fix that, housing has reserved portions of campus for upper division students.
“I think that’s made it a little more appealing so students know that they’re not going to just get stuck with a room full of freshmen,” Putnam said.
Research has been done by housing, nationally and campus wide, which show that students who live on campus get better grades, take better classes, are more likely to stay and they have more fun, Putnam said.
“I would probably have to agree with that because I think students automatically feel a bit more connected to campus,” Putnam said. “If you can make a connection with the school you are attending, you’re a lot more likely to stay and enjoy your
experience and hopefully graduate, because hopefully that’s the reason you started in the first place,” she said.
To help recruit new students to the housing, Jensen and his department give twice-daily tours of housing and offer a discounted lunch to students who
tour the campus.
“I think they’ve been extremely pro-active this year. I can understand the unbelievable weight that is probably on them to fill all these rooms,” Putnam said.
Jensen thinks students should choose to live on campus, especially the suite-style housing, because they don’t have to worry about roommate conflicts
that arise from living in apartment-style housing.
He brought up benefits of having a meal plan. He said, by having a place to eat and not having to make food, you eat healthier and you don’t have to worry about your roommate stealing your food.
He said students can use the community fridge, one located on each floor, or they can buy a mini fridge for their room if they are worried about someone taking their food.
“Particularly in those first couple of years students have plenty enough to deal
with anyway, and if they cannot have to deal with those kinds of issues, it
turns out to be a very positive thing,” Jensen said.
The funding for the housing came from a bond with the state of Utah and USU.
With the bond they are paying for the housing a little at a time.
“We’re an auxiliary, we’re not here, per se, to make a profit. We’re here to try and provide a great support to the university,” Jensen said. Rent money from the students goes toward future housing projects and to help older facilities.
“We do want to provide good housing and we want to be able to continue to infuse more money into our older facilities,” said Jensen.
One of those things they are working on now is high-speed wireless internet for
all on-campus student housing. He said it is planned to be installed in each living center by fall 2007.
Jensen said it is all for the goal of helping the students succeed.
“I’m hoping students will take advantage of the close proximity to everything
you need on campus by living here,” said Putnam.