On-campus apartments – the best of both worlds

On-campus apartments, at their inception in the 1940s, began as housing for IU students with families. Tenants had to show a marriage certificate before they could even sign a lease.

However, policies have changed, and today any IU student can apply for residence.
“It’s convenient, with everything I get when I live in a dorm,” senior Lacy Thompson said. “It’s just a lot easier to get to my classes when I live here.”

Thompson explored off-campus living options but decided to live in the University Apartments West – one of six apartment complexes on campus – and has lived there since her sophomore year.

Residential Programs and Services, which manages dorms and on-campus apartments, continuously surveys their residents about how to improve living options.
In response to what students want, “New Housing 2010,” the construction project on 10th Street, is currently being leased for the 2010-11 school year.

“This style of living will be unique to campus,” Sara Ivey Lucas, RPS assistant director for assignments, said. “Students want a private bathroom. They want a single room, but still some community space.”

New Housing rooms are an entirely new option. They are not just apartments because they offer dorm amenities – resident assistants, community educators, lounges and activity spaces.

The one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments are single-gender and may be randomly filled by RPS.

But, they offer the privacy that dorms do not. They come fully furnished, and each unit has its own kitchen, washer and dryer. There are no communal bathrooms, and students of legal drinking age are permitted to drink alcohol in their apartments.

Ivey-Lucus said RPS hopes such accommodations will attract and retain upperclassmen. Of the 820 spaces available, more than 600 students have already signed up.

Sophomore Alexa Freeman lives in Willkie now but plans to live in New Housing next fall. She said she likes the appeal of living on campus with a kitchen where she can cook on her own.

“It’s an actual apartment and it’s on campus,” Freeman said. “Everything is brand new. I’m really excited. I think everyone is.”

This option and these apartments have been a long time in the making. Ivey Lucas said plans began 12 to 15 years ago.  

“I think that being able to say, ‘Yeah, I was a part of the group that first lived in New Student Housing,’ and being able to build it from the ground up is a great opportunity,”
Ivey-Lucas said.