NDSU students move out of motels

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NDSU students move out of motels
Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Published Saturday, December 27, 2008

University promises more on-campus housing, aims for no hotel living next year

North Dakota State University freshmen who lived in motels this fall now have room assignments on campus.

The university also has a plan that will guarantee more freshmen a room on campus next fall and may eliminate the need for placing them in motels.

More than 300 students lived in nine motels at the start of fall semester and moved to campus as rooms opened up.

A record freshman enrollment of 2,661 students, nearly a 23 percent increase from last fall, as well as higher demand for campus housing from upperclassmen, fueled the need for overflow housing.

About 200 students remained in motels at the beginning of December, but they moved to rooms on campus at the end of the semester, said Rian Nostrum, associate director for operations for NDSU residence life.

Rooms on campus open up each spring semester for a variety of reasons, including students graduating or leaving NDSU, moving off campus or to fraternity or sorority houses, Nostrum said.

Students who lived in motels had amenities such as swimming pools, weekly housekeeping and laundry service.

But some complained about the inconvenience of being away from campus and navigating the shuttle schedule.

It cost NDSU an estimated $750,000 more for the semester to house students in motels and provide them with transportation, said Michael Harwood, assistant dean of student life.

“A lot of universities turn first-year students away and they have to find their own place,” Harwood said. “We chose not to do that.”

A Cityscapes Development project under way in downtown Fargo will provide NDSU with up to 214 additional beds, Nostrum said. The university will not own the housing complex, but will manage it. At least half of the facility should be ready by fall, Nostrum said.

NDSU also is guaranteeing more rooms on campus for freshmen and converting some campus apartment buildings to traditional residence halls to accommodate first-year students, Nostrum said.

“Our intent is not to have any first-year students in the motels,” Nostrum said.

NDSU will continue to work with motels in case the university sees another surge in enrollment, Nostrum said.

The university expects to see continued demand for campus apartments, which already have a six- to nine-month waiting list, he said.

NDSU will ask the Legislature this year for permission to add to the Niskanen Apartment complex, a

$20 million project that would be funded through revenue bonds that are repaid with student fees. If approved, the earliest the project would be complete is fall 2010.


Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590

From http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=226094&section=news

[Sal Atticum]

My question is why the NDSU administrators, if they have this need to provide housing to all students who want it, are simply not allowing as many students in.

[pmp6nl]

You mean curbing enrollment?  If so, I have heard they are planning on capping it at 16,000.