Dorm life: How suite it is
Dallas Morning News – September 22, 2002
Page 1 of 2
By LINDA K. WERTHEIMER Baylor plans to open an will become extinct for all
apartments-only building in 2004, students, though it'll take time.
COLLEGE STATION – It was the same year that Texas A&M The school has 10,400 student
move-in day at Texas A&M, and hopes to finish transforming all of beds in 41 buildings.
parent after parent peeked into Davis-Gary Hall into apartments.
Room 138 in Davis -Gary Hall. Ron Sasse, director of residence
The thrills of a door life, said he'll ask the Board of
There was a kitchen that had a Regents in December to approve
half-size refrigerator, stove and Reena Philip and Asma Ahmed, a $4 million renovation of Davis -
microwave. Sunlight spilled both juniors from Houston, have Gary Hall into apartments.
through two living room windows been testing the Davis-Gary
onto gray carpet. There was a apartment since last school year. If those apartments rent as fast
purple sofa, two cranberry- as he expects, he'll keep
cushioned chairs and an oak Their shared bedroom is the same returning to the regents until he
entertainment center. size as their neighbors' – about gets the approval to turn 16
13 by 10 feet – but there's a traditional residence halls into
All for two students. bathroom attached. Everyone else apartment-style buildings. Lots of
in the dorm has to share a students applied for the two
"This is a dorm room," a parent bathroom facility with 15 to 30 model apartments – which cost
gasped. others. They also have a kitchen, $1,977 a semester, about $770
so they cook for themselves more a semester than a standard
Room 138, a 494-square -foot rather than eat in community dorm room.
apartment built in what used to dining halls.
be two traditional dorm rooms, is Although students are still lining
one-of-a-kind in the World War But it's a door – the one up for all of A&M's dorm rooms,
II-era women's hall. Another separating bedroom from living the housing department has
opened this August in a men's room – they brag about when started picking up competition
dorm. touting the apartment's features. from three new, private
They're good friends, but still, apartment buildings just off
Most likely, housing directors say, they're human. campus.
they represent the future at
college campuses all over the "When you get sick of each other, Mr. Sasse said he's still partial to
country. The traditional dorm you have another place to go," the traditional dorm, where
room – four walls, two beds, two said Ms. Ahmed, 20. students get to know each other
desks and a community bathroom because they live so close
shared by four to 30 students – is Other than the added privacy, the together.
becoming passé. new Texas A&M apartments are
no more snazzy than regular But he said universities must
Housing directors at Texas A&M dorm rooms – the bathroom floor react to market demands. Rent –
and other universities say this is concrete, and the freezer is too not state financing – pays for
generation of college students is tiny to fit a frozen pizza. housing at state schools.
turning up its nose at communal "We do have a sadness about it,"
bathrooms and minimal privacy. While Texas A&M's apartments Mr. Sasse said. "We know the
"What you hear from students is will be plain, Baylor's will have relationships won't be the same.
privacy, privacy, privacy," said more pizzazz – large living rooms, But if we don't change, we're not
Frank Shushok, the associate a full-size fridge, four single going to be able to rent the
dean for campus living and bedrooms and a deck. Baylor also rooms."
learning at Baylor University. intends to install coffee shops and
"Their families are smaller. To entertainment lounges to He and other housing directors
share a room with three other encourage students to socialize. say hundreds or thousands of
people and then have a common Freshmen will still live in students are living in rooms they
bathroom is unthinkable." traditional dorms. It's the don't like because there's no
upperclassmen, many of whom other choice. At Texas A&M, the
Some universities have always now opt for off-campus housing, most popular housing option is a
had on-campus apartments, but that Baylor wants to lure with the two-person room with one
during the last five years, apartments. bathroom. This year, there were
universities nationwide have 2,750 students on a waiting list
added them at a fast pace. On the way out for those rooms, said Mack
They've been driven by students' Thomas, an assistant director of
demand but also by a need to do At Texas A&M, officials say the residence life. Asked why they
something about aging buildings. traditional dorm room probably don't want traditional dorm
Dorm life: How suite it is
Dallas Morning News – September 22, 2002
Page 2 of 2
rooms, many students cite the University of Texas at Austin this with your neighbors. We already
communal bathrooms. year was able to house only about have friends."
half of the 8,000 freshmen who
Newer universities, such as the wanted to live on campus. UT is Ms. Philip, 19, said she would
University of Texas at Dallas, focused on adding traditional have preferred the apartment
have never known anything other dorm space, said Doug Garrard, even as a freshman. She said it
than apartments. UTD, which associate director of residential was scary as a freshman to walk
started as a graduate school, life. It could be 10 years before down the long corridor at night if
started with apartments as the UT offers on-campus apartments she had to use the bathroom. And
only housing option because of to undergraduates, he said. she didn't like waiting to use a
student demand. shower.
The University of North Texas also
Southern Methodist Unive rsity is not rushing to add apartments, "Here you can take a shower
used to restrict its on-campus said Elisabeth Warren, director of whenever you want," she said.
apartments to graduate students. housing and residence life. One of
For several years now, it has UNT's most popular dorms is the Dusty Davis, a 20-year-old junior
allowed students in sophomore 55-year-old building that houses from Arlington, lives in Crocker
year or above to rent them. music students, Bruce Hall. The Hall, home of the other model
hall gets 1,200 applicants for 500 apartment at A&M. He's not in the
Bathroom adventures spots. model and doesn't want to be. He
sleeps o n a couch in his dorm
Still, Eddie Hull, SMU's director of "It's full of Bohemians and artists, room because he finds it more
residence life and student and students love it," she said. comfortable than the university-
housing, said he'd like schools to provided bunk. His stereo is on a
keep traditional halls as an option Students might be willing to pay chest of drawers. At 6-foot-3, he
– including the often-criticized more for more privacy, but that's finds the room cramped, but he
common bathroom. Parents often not a reason to change, Dr. jokes about it.
ask him what would be the best Warren said.
residence hall. "The good thing is you're in arm's
"That doesn't necessarily make it reach of everything in your
"There isn't a best residence hall. right if we let students hide in room," he said.
It has to be more about the their rooms," she said
experience than the address," Mr. Brandon Heath, a 23-year-old
Hull said. Leslie Paith, an 18-year-old sophomore from Arlington living
freshman from Sherman, lives in in the model apartment, rarely
The common bathroom often is a a traditional room in Davis-Gary shuts his door. Students roam in
big part of the experience, he at Texas A&M. She has seen the and out. Fresh brownies are often
said. apartment, and unlike the parents on the kitchen counter – made by
who saw it on move -in day, she's female friends who stopped by to
"In the bathroom, you get the not envious. try the oven.
good, the bad and ugly. There are
very few secrets," he said. "Honestly, I like it, and I wish it If anything, the apartment has
wouldn't change," she said of her created more social opportunities,
Texas Christian University created room. "You get to know people in he said.
a six-building apartment the hall. We get to know each
community four years ago. Each other walking to the bathroom." He prefers the university's model
apartment has four private for the future. For one thing, you
bedrooms, two bathrooms, a Ms. Ahmed said she never minded don't have to worry so much
kitchen, living room and dining the community bathroom as a about every freshman's
area. Dallas Baptist University, a freshman. But as an nightmare.
school of 4,417 students, opened upperclassman, she thinks
its first apartment complex this differently. "There's always that chance you
August and plans to build more. "Once I'm here in the apartment, get the roommate from hell," he
there's not much reason to said.
Some universities are avoiding leave," she said. "If you're a
the trend altogether. The freshman, you'd want interaction