With Room Lottery just a few weeks away, it is no question that it’s on everybody’s mind. At this point in the semester people are beginning to finalize rooming plans for the fall. This is an increasing issue for all of those students wishing to live in Perlroth, Larson, and Troup Residence Halls. The number of students required to live in these dorms is now ten per suite; which is an increase of two people per suite starting in the fall of 2006. For a suite built for eight people this does not seem fair. This is becoming an issue, and the university needs to do something to fix this problem.
With ten people being forced into such small living quarters, it creates two forced triples in each of the suites. By doing so, there isn’t enough room for three beds, three desks and three dressers. Therefore, the problem is that now a common room is turning into an extension of a bedroom. With the extra furniture these rooms are not large enough to house both. This not only disrupts the lives of the two people who are forced into a triple, but also the other eight living in the suite. Studying becomes a challenge because getting a common room quiet is very hard to do, and it takes away from the space where all people in the suite can hang out.
As a student residing in these dorms, the room and board fees are incredibly high. The cost to live in Perlroth, Larson or Troup is $10,800. This does come with a meal plan for the campus dining facilities, wireless internet and cleaning services weekly for the bathroom. Even with these good qualities, they do not make up for the increase of people in a room. Is it really worth having to cram ten people into an eight person room just to have these? The costs clearly outweigh the benefits. A room built for eight should only house that number of people. The cost of being in an uncomfortable living situation for a year is not nearly worth it.
The university created a policy where all students are guaranteed housing for their first three years as a full time student. However, in order to stay within their contract to the students, it is causing cramped living situations. As the university continues to grow, so do the number of students who need housing. This is our campus’ biggest issue. Each student should be getting comfortable living for the money spent on room and board; but now to keep the promise the university is mandating a new policy to fit as many people possible into the rooms. This is not only uncomfortable but unfair for the price being charged.
The university needs to reevaluate the situation and change it based on the number of students enrolled. They are responsible to solve this problem and need to be working harder to accommodate the large student body. Rather than squish ten people into a small room they should be doing something about it. Whether it is building more dorms or changing the policy so that juniors move off campus, something must be done and soon. It is not the students’ fault that the university accepts so many students, so we should not have to be the ones to suffer.
