In an effort to bolster the occupancy rates in Eastern
Michigan University's 11 residence halls and more than
482 apartment units, Housing and Dining is offering a number
of incentives to entice students to reside on campus.
Some of these include offering $1,000 housing grants to
live in single rooms in the Towers and allowing students
to receive room and board, rather than a paycheck, for
working on campus.
The
$1,000 grants will allow Hill Hall to reopen this fall
after it was offline during 2007-2008, said Bernice Lindke,
EMU's interim vice president for student affairs.
 |
HILL HALL UPGRADE: This scene depicts
new
furnishings that will be part of the Hill Hall
renovation taking place this summer. The
improvements
are being made to provide more
attractive campus
living options for Eastern Michigan
University
students. |
"Hill Hall shut down last year because we didn't have
enough students to live in the residence halls, Lindke
said. "We'd like to fill the Towers. To do that, we would
offer $1,000 grants for singles if they would live in the
Towers."
To increase Tower resident numbers, Lindke said Housing
is targeting the graduate student community with a plan
to use some of the higher floors in Hill for that student
group. In addition, a specialized meal plan — with
more flexibility — for
graduate students is being considered.
"We're trying to create floor communities of graduate
students based on interest," said Becky Figura, EMU's director
of housing. "We're presenting that as an option. Will people
take us up on that? We don't know."
Paint, installation of new carpeting and furnishings in
common areas of Hill Hall will be completed by August.
Six vendors presented furniture showcases to campus May
12-16. With student input, one vendor will be selected
to furnish the First-Year Center and Hill Hall.
"Hill will be renovated with new furnishings and full-size
beds in the singles (rooms)," Figura said. "It should be
very attractive."
As of June 5, there were 252 Tower
housing contracts compared to 227 last
year at the same time, Figura said. Typically, sophomores,
juniors and seniors live in the Towers, which consists
of Hill, Hoyt and Putnam halls.
Wise Hall, a residence hall for freshmen, is being marketed
at a reduced rate during Fast Track sessions with
parents and students. Part of the reduction is due to the
offering of reduced meal plans for students who don't want
the full-meal plan option, Lindke said. Through June 5,
there are 117 contracts to date for Wise,
compared to 129 last year at the same
juncture, Figura said.
"Fast Track applicants drive enrollment," Lindke said. "We
tell them what an enriched experience it would be for them
to live on campus. We've seen more students at Fast
Track signing up to live on campus. It looks like we're
attracting a higher percentage of our incoming freshmen
to live in the residence halls."
A new marketing brochure, dubbed "Live the Full Eastern
Experience," was handed out at the Explore Eastern event
in April and continues to be used by admissions staff on
visits and at student recruitment fairs.
Students also can choose to be part of the enhanced Collegiate
Advantage Program (CAP). Rather than work a campus job
for money, the hard work will go toward the student's room
and board through designated financial aid. A student must
work 345 hours per semester, which comes out to 24 hours
a week. There also is a half CAP program in which students
work 12 hours a week (172.5 per semester) to pay half of
their room and board costs.
"(During) winter semester, we had 41 students signed
up for CAP," said Ann Klaes, assistant director, dining
services.
"We anticipate a slight increase in our areas for
fall. Dining has done several presentations to offices
on campus. So far, both the Student Center and Admissions
have committed to working at least one or two CAP positions
into their operations."
"I lived on campus my freshman year and knew that living
in the Village and Towers would be more expensive," said
Lorraine Ferrant, an EMU senior who has used CAP for two
years and worked at Eastern Eateries. "After having to
pay for my room-and-board my freshman year, I knew living
on campus in the future would not be possible without CAP."
New policy also is driving more student-athletes to live
on campus. At the last Board of Regents' Athletics Advisory
Committee meeting in March, a policy was passed that all
first- or second-year student-athletes who receive a grant
or scholarship have to live in campus housing their first
two years. To date, 38 athletes, who did not currently
reside in campus housing, have signed up.
"I think the goal this year is to try a bunch of things,
make a bunch of offers and see what works," said Brian
Fitzgerald, acting associate vice president for student
affairs.
To alleviate concerns, security in the residence halls
has improved. Greg O'Dell, the new executive director of
public safety, has visited the residence halls and attended
Residence Hall Association (RHA) meetings; an emergency
alert program has been promoted to all residents; and a
pilot project in which laptops are used at check-in for
Night Watch completed its first year.
"Our residence halls have absolutely needed a facelift," Lindke
said. "We've put $3 million into our residence halls and
we've used some funds in reserve for apartment renovations."
Apartments
As of June 2, 165 apartment units have been rented for
spring/summer, slightly down from the 168 rented at this
time last year. There are an additional 58 units that have
been pre-leased to students for the fall, but not yet assigned,
said Lewis Savage, assistant director of housing-apartments.
"The majority of the 165 units will remain leased. Some
will move out and then replaced by incoming students in
the fall," Savage said. "We have a bunch of applications
being processed where units have not yet been assigned.
Some of that is because (students) haven't signed up for
classes yet."
When they do sign up, students will find improvements
made to a number of apartment units.
The physical plant hired a project manager this past March
to focus exclusively on apartment repair, maintenance and
renovations. A comprehensive audit was recently completed
of EMU's more than 482 apartment units and there is a continual
collaboration with the physical plant to develop, adopt
and adhere to standards that maximize apartment availability.
A plan is currently underway to renovate all apartment
units and will be based on available funding. Renovation
of Cornell Apartments is in its third year and renovation
of Westview Apartments was launched this year, with six
units receiving various degrees of upgrades, Savage said.
Sidewalks adjacent to all apartments are being
repaired to improve safety and appearance.
"The long-term plan is to keep turning buildings over
one at a time (with the budget we have) in Cornell and
Westview until we reach a point where we receive more funding
from rentals that we can put back into renovations," Savage
said.
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KITCHEN CREATION: As part of the Westview
Apartments renovation, the kitchens in six units
were recently upgraded with new appliances, lighting
fixtures and tile floors. The physical
plant, in
conjunction with University Housing, also
is
upgrading 15 units in one building of Cornell
Apartments, as well as some other individual units
of
Cornell, Westview and Brown-Munson. |
"The bottom line is we're trying to make sure that an
available apartment is readied as quickly as possible so
that we can rent it," Lindke said. "We continue to rent
as long as we can as long as a room is available."
To keep apartment residents, Internet service options
for residents of Cornell and Westview have been included
in the TV services proposal. As part of the Westview renovation,
the old carpeting was torn out and the wood floors refinished.
Appliances, lighting fixtures and tile have been replaced
and a new coat of paint applied.
It has cost approximately $100,000 to renovate an apartment
building with six units, Lindke said of the Westview work.
"This is really because of the cooperation between the
physical plant staff and apartment staff trying to come
up with a long-term plan to turn over apartments and for
renovation planning," Savage said.
Approximately 38 students have signed up for the inaugural
year of the new spring/summer apartment storage program
for current tenants who want to lease their current unit
for the fall, but do not live on campus during the summer.
"I'm confident that, if we are diligent about our marketing
and offer our incentives and the rooms are ready, we'll
have students in them and enjoying them," Lindke said.
