Texas colleges give dorm rooms a revamp

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- It was move-in day at Texas A&M, and parent after parent peeked into Room 138 in Davis-Gary Hall. \nThere was a kitchen that had a half-size refrigerator, stove and microwave. Sunlight spilled through two living room windows onto gray carpet. There was a purple sofa, two cranberry-cushioned chairs and an oak entertainment center. \nAll for two students. \n"This is a dorm room," a parent gasped. \nRoom 138, a 494-square-foot apartment built in what used to be two traditional dorm rooms, is one-of-a-kind in the World War II-era women's hall. Another opened this August in a men's dorm.\nMost likely, housing directors say, they represent the future at college campuses all over the country. The traditional dorm room -- four walls, two beds, two desks and a community bathroom shared by four to 30 students -- is becoming passe. \nHousing directors at Texas A&M and other universities say this generation of college students is turning up its nose at communal bathrooms and minimal privacy. \n"What you hear from students is privacy, privacy, privacy," said Frank Shushok, the associate dean for campus living and learning at Baylor University. "Their families are smaller. To share a room with three other people and then have a common bathroom is unthinkable."\nSome universities have always had on-campus apartments, but during the last five years, universities nationwide have added them at a fast pace. They've been driven by students' demand but also by a need to do something about aging buildings. \nBaylor plans to open an apartments-only building in 2004, the same year that Texas A&M hopes to finish transforming all of Davis-Gary Hall into apartments.\nReena Philip and Asma Ahmed, both juniors from Houston, have been testing the Davis-Gary apartment since last school year.\nTheir shared bedroom is the same size as their neighbors' -- about 13 by 10 feet -- but there's a bathroom attached. Everyone else in the dorm has to share a bathroom facility with 15 to 30 others. They also have a kitchen, so they cook for themselves rather than eat in community dining halls. \nBut it's a door -- the one separating bedroom from living room -- they brag about when touting the apartment's features. They're good friends, but still, they're human. \n"When you get sick of each other, you have another place to go," said Ahmed, 20.\nOther than the added privacy, the new Texas A&M apartments are no more snazzy than regular dorm rooms -- the bathroom floor is concrete, and the freezer is too tiny to fit a frozen pizza.\nWhile Texas A&M's apartments will be plain, Baylor's will have more pizzazz -- large living rooms, a full-size fridge, four single bedrooms and a deck. Baylor also intends to install coffee shops and entertainment lounges to encourage students to socialize. Freshmen will still live in traditional dorms. It's the upperclassmen, many of whom now opt for off-campus housing, that Baylor wants to lure with the apartments. \nAt Texas A&M, officials say the traditional dorm room probably will become extinct for all students, though it'll take time. The school has 10,400 student beds in 41 buildings. \nRon Sasse, director of residence life, said he'll ask the Board of Regents in December to approve a $4 million renovation of the entire Davis-Gary Hall into apartments.