Students respond to dorm price increases

Gloria Bangiola, a freshman in the Jacobs School of Music, chose Wright Quad as her Bloomington home.

Read Residence Center is closer to the music school, but housing was less expensive in Wright, she said.

She is now preparing for her sophomore year, when she plans to pay a little extra to move to Read, which is right across the street from the music school and where she said all her friends will be staying.

But with the IU Board of Trustees recent decision to increase the cost of on-campus housing, she said she might be paying a little more than she thought.

Last Friday, the Trustees approved the on-campus housing rates for the 2012-13 academic year, which involved voting for an increase in the cost of several housing facilities across campus.

The increase will occur on a sliding scale, said Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land, with some residence hall rates increasing as much as eight percent. At the other end, some facilities will not experience any increase at all, he said.

Among the dorms most affected are single and double rooms in Ashton Center, Eigenmann Hall, Forest Quad, Foster Quad, McNutt Quad, Teter Quad and Wright Quad, whose residents will all see an eight-percent increase in housing costs from the current academic year.

Some of the facilities that will not experience any increase include the Evermann Apartments, University Apartments and Redbud Hill
Apartments.

Representatives from IU’s Residential Programs and Services declined comment.

Bangiola is from the east coast, so she pays out-of-state tuition and tries to cut the price of education by selecting low-cost housing.

“I think I’m probably kind of stuck,” Bangiola said. “The increase will probably have an effect on how many years I can stay. I was planning on staying five years, but if I can’t afford housing, then I can’t stay.”

Her original plan was to apply for a single in Read, which would have cost her nearly $6,730 for two semesters of housing during the upcoming school year. That’s a $498 increase from the current
school year.

Because there were no singles available when she applied, she requested a Read “double single,” for which she will be paying $8,194, up $607 from the current school year.

Land said the increases come as a response to students’ increasing expectations in dorm amenities.

“What worked for me in the ‘80s as a student in a dorm room is
different from today,” he said.

To accommodate the rising expectations, Land said the University has built new facilities, such as Union Street Center, and is performing renovations to existing facilities. About $40 million has been invested in Briscoe Quad’s renovations, which, among other things, will allow students to choose more apartment-style living arrangements than traditional dorm housing.

Those changes require the University spend money, Land said. However, he said the University seeks to be responsible with the increases.

“We’re very much aware that money is an issue for a lot of folks, so we’re trying to hold the line where we can,” he said. “At the same time, we’re also recognizing that the types of dorms students want nowadays require more amenities.”

Bangiola’s friend, freshman Esther Moudy-Gummere, is a current resident of Read who won’t be returning to Read in the fall, or any residence hall, for that matter.

“I think it’s a lot more cost-effective to not live in the dorms if that’s possible,” she said. “That’s not only because of the money for the space you’re living in, but also with the quality of the food and everything. You can control that yourself and not have to pay a flat rate for it.”

Though Bangiola plans to move to Read next year, she still has concerns about the increase.

“Read doesn’t have air conditioning,” she said. “Are they raising the cost as much in Briscoe where there’s air conditioning? Because they’re raising the cost here where there isn’t.”

She also said she doesn’t care too much about the renovations and state-of-the-art living facilities.

“I don’t care personally whether I’m an apartment-type living or in a dorm because it doesn’t make a difference,” she said. “So that’s not really a good reason, in my mind, but some people might disagree.”