Some Iowa City apartment buildings will have a new tenant this fall: the University of Iowa. To deal with the challenge of housing the largest incoming class to date, UI officials have a plan that goes beyond the typical temporary setups that have been used in the past.
Tom Rocklin, the interim vice president for UI Student Services, says the plan is to create what is essentially a residence hall in several apartment complexes by leasing the entire building and operating it like a dorm. This extra space will house UI students until the completion of the recently approved residence hall. While university officials must ensure that these apartments provide the same experience students look for in residence halls, the plan is a creative and effective way to manage the increasing demand for housing.
The incoming freshman class is the largest ever, at 4,475, and its arrival this fall will create a shortage of around 300 beds. School officials expect demand for housing to continue to increase, which is why the state Board of Regents approved the construction of a new residence hall, expected to cost $25 million to $35 million and to be completed in 2013. The short-term plan involving apartments is to lease entire buildings and operate them like dorms, with residents gaining access to all of the typical benefits of one of the UI’s residence halls, including meal plans and resident assistants. Rocklin says Student Services expects to house 150 to 200 students in these buildings.
The vice president was unable to comment on the location of the planned apartments, because negotiations with local landlords are still underway. Location will be one of the most important factors in determining the success of the apartment-dorms. One of the reasons students choose residence halls is their proximity to campus and ease of transportation, benefits that must be offered by any of the leased apartments. If the apartments are at near campus locations, such as Clinton Street, the plan should be effective, but if the students are living several blocks away, such as on Johnson Street, one of the main benefits of living in a residence hall will be lost.
Student safety will be another concern with apartment buildings, and the UI will need to ensure that the leased buildings meet all of the safety requirements of the dorms. Resident assistants monitoring the buildings should help somewhat, and a simple upgrade of the lock on many apartment buildings’ doors should also be effective. Locating the buildings near a Cambus stop is a necessity so that students do not need to walk home on the streets of Iowa City late at night. Rocklin says that officials expect any leased apartments to be served by Cambus, but it may be necessary to modify routes to accommodate new locations.
The cost for the new apartment-dorms is a question. Will students be charged the temporary housing rate or the standard dorm rate? Assuming meal plans are mandatory, as they are in the dorms, the temporary housing rate would be $400 to $700 per month, which is comparable with local apartment rental rates. DI Editorial Board feels the dorm rental rate of $900 to $1,200 per month is too much to charge for off-campus living.
While the plan may not be ideal, there are no alternatives that could provide the same experience and benefits as the leased apartment buildings. In the past, students have been housed in converted residence-hall lounges with other students or shoe-horned into double rooms that were made to be singles. Apartment buildings will provide enough space for students to live comfortably and enjoy the same experience as students in regular residence-hall rooms. The only way to exceed the benefits of the apartment buildings is with a new residence hall, which will not be built in time for the class of 2014 to move in.
As class sizes expand, the UI must meet the demand for housing in the short-term before the long-term plans can come into effect. The goal with any plan for temporary housing should be to replicate the residence-hall experience as closely as possible, and the plan to lease apartment buildings will be an effective way to do that until the new residence hall is completed. The DI Editorial Board feels that as long as the UI follows these steps of affordability, proximity to campus, and maintaining the dorm feeling, alternative housing would make for a positive living situation. If the plan is executed well, students in alternative housing will not even feel disadvantaged compared with their classmates in residence halls.