Regional universities build on-campus student housing

Some state and education officials say the housing should help attract and retain more students and improve the campus atmosphere. The extra housing is also needed because IU in Bloomington and Purdue in West Lafayette have reached capacity.\n"If you are honest in saying we want to make Indiana's higher education community competitive with surrounding states, you have to allow them to stay there," said Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, a member of the State Budget Committee that approves bonding for such projects.\nBut other officials worry that housing on regional campuses could have a chilling effect on the state's five residential campuses.\n"It will drive up costs. We wind up competing for the same students," said Frederick Bauer, a former legislator and longtime member of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.\nThe shift toward building housing on regional campuses gained strength in June 2001, when an agreement was reached between IU, Purdue and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Among other steps, it allowed regional campuses to house up to 10 percent of their students.\nIU operates six regional campuses and IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis; Purdue operates three regional campuses, including one in Fort Wayne.\nIUPUI, considered an urban campus, not a regional one, was the first to build new housing when it constructed a $40 million complex built for 772 students.\nPurdue Calumet in Hammond has received initial approval from trustees and the higher education commission to build a 384-bed housing unit estimated to cost $16.5 million. The project, which still faces final approval, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2005.\nDemand is high, especially because there are no apartments close to the 9,300-student campus, Vice Chancellor Gary Newsom said.\nHe expects interest from students who are not admitted to West Lafayette, foreign students and those who want to stay in their hometown but do not want to live with their families.\nIU South Bend officials also think there is enough demand to fill a 400- to 500-bed complex across the St. Joseph River planned for the fall of 2006. First, though, the campus wants to build a $2.3 million footbridge across the river to provide access to the apartments. IU trustees have not yet approved the housing.\nIU board of trustees President Fred Eichhorn isn't concerned regional campus housing will pull students away from Bloomington. But he said trustees and IU President Adam Herbert need to decide on housing policies for campuses.\n"I don't think there's a taboo, but there will have to be a strong case made," Eichhorn told The Indianapolis Star for a story published Monday.\nStan Jones, Indiana's higher education commissioner, said some regional campuses are not big enough to support housing. Still, he thinks limited housing on campuses that can support it financially will improve the campuses and give students options.\n"But these are predominantly commuter campuses, and they will always be that," Jones said.