Student Housing: Compared to a dorm room, it’s the penthouse
UW-P runs out of campus housing, but those who are ’shut out’ are quite happy with all the living space they have in the student lounge.
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Platteville freshmen Tyler Wray and Travis Phillips admit they were tardy in applying for on-campus housing for their incoming semester. Their reward? They’re roommates in a converted student lounge.
Residence hall occupancy for the UW-P’s fall semester is at the maximum 2,700 students, predominately freshmen and sophomores. It means there are more students — around 50 at the semester’s start — than there are available dormitory rooms.
“We’re somewhat like the airline industry,” said Rhonda Viney, director of student housing. “We can be overbooked and still handle the increased occupancy.”
When that occurs, she said, the university adds additional living spaces in what’s called “expanded housing.” It means that alternate areas, such as floor lounges, are converted for resident use. Students pay less for “expanded housing.” The lockable rooms can accommodate up to four students. Wray and Phillips share a converted lounge on McGregor Hall’s fourth floor.
“I thought I’d have to search for someplace to live,” said Wray, of Oconomowoc. “But they found me ‘expanded housing.’ It’s like luxury — the size — compared to the other dorm rooms. It’s nice.”
Phillips, of Dodgeville, didn’t know what to expect. He had never seen a student lounge.
“I was told they were three or four times the size of the other dorm rooms,” he said. “It was a pleasant surprise.”
Converted spaces contain bunk beds, dressers, a clothes bar for hanging clothes, work/study tables and chairs, a small refrigerator, a cable TV connection and a computer port for each student.
The downside, Viney said, is losing a dormitory lounge where students can study or hang out.
“We really value lounge spaces,” she said.
When dorm rooms become available, students are moved out of the “expanded housing” and into regular dorm rooms — the goal is by the end of the first semester or before the start of the second semester. Phillips and Wray aren’t looking forward to it.
“The bad part is, you get used to all the room, and then you go to a room one-third the size,” Wray said, adding the two let friends use the space to study or watch movies.
Viney notes utilizing expanded housing isn’t all that unusual. UW-P has utilized it previously, as do other colleges and universities.
“It’s probably a good problem to have,” she said, citing the UW-P’s record enrollment of more than 1,500 new freshmen for the current semester. The on-campus enrollment is 7,100 students.
Students, like Wray and Phillips, who find themselves in the situation receive specialized mailings, telling them about expanded housing — what to expect, and how they will be eventually reassigned.
“We want them to know it’s not a big deal,” Viney said, “and they will move again.”
Students adjust quite well, she said.
“No one comes in saying, ‘Get me out of here,’” Viney said.
BY CRAIG D. REBER for TH
