Wednesday, September 16, 2009
{The Blue Banner}
Page 2
Administration plans to build new dorm next spring
By Kendall Brooks
Staff Writer
KSBROOKS@UNCA.EDU
The university plans to build a new resi
dence hall due to a housing shortage leav
ing students without campus housing, uni
versity officials said.
“We are having a shortfall as far as stu
dents that want to go into our housing and
what housing stock we have available,” he
said. “Our enrollment is up significantly
this year.”
John Bucher, assistant to the vice chan
cellor of budget and assessment, said hous
ing turned away more than 100 students
due to lack of rooms.
Administration requires freshmen to live
on campus, and there were nearly 600 this
semester. With 1200 beds and more than
1,300 applicants, housing had to turn stu
dents away.
“There were many who called and we
had to tell them we didn’t have enough
space. No sense in turning in an applica
tion. So, their numbers didn’t make it to
the fact sheet,” Bucher said.
Full-time student enrollment last year
numbered more than 3,000 students and
increased considerably this year, while
housing availability remained the same.
Vice Chancellor John Pierce said.
“As we look forward, these projects take
anywhere from two to three years to con
struct. So you’re looking down the road
two years at more demand,” Pierce said.
“And the problem with Governors Vil
lage is that in 2012 the state is requiring all
dorms to be sprinkled, and it’s not.”
Governors Village plumbing is within
the concrete floors, and it will be hard to
place sprinklers inside without a full reno
vation, Pierce said. Administration hired
an architect to conduct a feasibility study
on the cost-effectiveness of renovating the
dorms instead of razing and starting over.
“The new dorm would either be a high-
rise or spread out a bit, about 400 beds,”
Pierce said. “Our architect found we could
renovate the old dorms at a cost-compet
itive price compared to building all new
ones.”
Accordinp to Pierce, the feasibility studv
revealed that renovation would be cheaper
than creating new dorm space. This could
be done without removing walls, allowing
for aesthetic remodeling.
“We would replenish the 100 beds in
Governors Village and, right now, we plan
to build 300 new beds in a different facil
ity,” he said. “After verifying the feasibil
ity, administration needs to make sure that
there is enough demand for housing to jus
tify the building of a new dorm.”
Governors Village currently has four of
its five buildings operational, and adminis
tration plans to renovate all of them within
a few years, according to Bucher.
Governors Village houses almost 100
students, and all those rooms will be out of
order in two years due to safety codes.
“The board of trustees approved a mar
keting study to see what really is the fi
nancial feasibility of this project, and if it
makes sense to go through with it,” he said.
“Are there enough students who are will
ing to pay? Can we fill the beds?”
Student’s housing fees will pay for dorm
renovations and the construction of new
dorms. This allows all housing expenses to
be self-liquidating. Pierce said.
“Our market study will verify that we are
experts in this,” he said. “We need to be
sure we will have the revenue coming in to
pay back the loan debt and expenses.”
According to Bucher, the only dorms not
indebted are in Governors Village, which
require renovation in the coming years.
Brokers require a cushion of funds from
the university to keep payments current in
the case of an emergency.
“What we leam from the marketing and
feasibility study is how much to borrow
and how much our payments will be,” Bu
cher said. “Then, we find out how much
we need to charge for the rooms. We have
to have enough income to cover more than
the payments and operating expenses. The
loaner wants about 120 percent cushion in
case something weird happens.”
According to Pierce, the new dorm will
cost around $2 million dollars annually in
fees. More than half of these fees would go
to pay off the building debt, and 30 to 40
nercent would cover oneratinp expenses.
Taliaferro Pollock- Staff Photographer
Bridget Holliday, left, and sister Brooke walk past Governor’s Village.
UNCA plans to begin construction on a new dorm next semester.
Due to a lack of rooms, UNC Asheville
paired resident assistants with roommates
and converted several dorm lounges in
Mills Hall and Founders Hall into bed
rooms to accommodate the overflow, Bu
cher said.
“We try not to room RAs with a room
mate because it causes problems or con
flict,” he said. “But with the overflow of
students, we found one solution to be giv
ing them roommates.”
According to Bucher, living on campus
provides students many opportunities to
experience UNCA and increases student
retention.
“We really feel the residential experi
ence is a big component of the overall edu
cational experience at UNCA,” he said.
“We’re really focused on relationships,
and living on camniis contributes to that
aspect.”
The university plans to minimize stu
dent impact by starting renovations and
construction of the new dorm during the
spring semester. Pierce said.
Pierce said that students will be asked
for input and suggestions as the project
continues to progress.
According to Bucher, there are fewer
students on campus during the spring for
various reasons, including graduation and
students moving off campus. Housing
administration will work on ways to mini
mize student difficulty during renovations.
“We know it is going to take around 12
weeks to complete the project. We may
phase them one at a time, or, most likely,
we’ll take a spring semester to work on
it and have it ready for the fall,” Bucher
said.