The IU Board of Trustees approved rates Friday for the three apartment complexes Residential Programs and Services will run next school year.
IU will operate parts of Reserve on Third, Park on Morton and Smallwood on College apartment complexes, IU spokesperson Chuck Carney said. These 1,085 beds will accommodate non-freshman students who want to live in RPS housing but can't because the university is losing about 2,400 beds to mold-related renovations next school year, Carney said.
McNutt and Foster Quads, which normally house about 2,400 students, will be renovated after mold was found there last semester, Carney said.
Teter Quad, which also had mold, will lose about 600 beds to renovation, Carney said. However, this was planned before the mold was discovered.
Although all the numbers are not finalized, Carney said IU paid more for these apartments than what they will charge students. Overall, Carney said IU will lose about half a million dollars.
"That was so we could keep costs lower," Carney said.
The goal was to make these costs as similar as possible to on-campus living, Director of RPS Patrick Connor said at a RPS presentation Jan. 23.
These apartments will be for upperclassmen students who want to live through RPS. The prices in the 369 units range from $6,800 to $14,500 for the school year.
Reserve on Third is the most affordable, similar to Collins Living-Learning Center, and Park on Morton is the most expensive, similar to Union Street Center.
The students who requested to renew RPS contracts last fall will have first priority for the apartments, Carney said. They have until Feb. 15 to fill out an online preference form, on which students request apartments and roommates. After this deadline, RPS will look into placing the 942 non-freshman students on the waitlist for RPS living.
So far, about 500 students have filled out the online preference form, renewing their contracts, Carney said.
RPS will operate these complexes similar to its 24 on-campus residence halls. There will be resident assistants and other staff at each apartment complex. The contracts will also include utilities, cable, Wi-Fi and parking, and rent will be billed through the bursar's office, Connor said at the Jan. 23 meeting.
