With the number of students attending IU Southeast expanding, there are also a growing number of students wanting to live on campus.
Unfortunately, the number of students is greater than the number of beds available.
“For the past two years, we’ve had a pretty substantial waiting list,” Ruth Garvey-Nix, vice chancellor of Student Affairs said. “When this semester began, we had 70 students on it, and during the summer we had the highest number — 107.”
In August, the Board of Trustees approval was granted for the construction of the new lodge, but this does not mean it is for certain.
IU Southeast requires permission from the governor, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and the State Budget Committee.
A $1 million anonymous donation was provided and will be used for additional housing on campus.
The total project will take $5.3 million. On top of the $1 million donation, the Board of Trustees will be giving a $4 million revenue bond that will be paid for by student rent over a period of time.
The other $300,000 is from reserved cash from the most recent housing project.
“Since we are not asking for state dollars, we cannot start construction,” Garvey-Nix said.
If approved, the new lodge will have the same look and design as Meadow lodge, with 87 beds.
Garvey-Nix said if the approvals are obtained it should take less than a year for the construction to begin.
“We already have the basic design from the last time around,” Garvey-Nix said. “The ball will start rolling when we have approval from the state. This may take the fall semester.”
The new lodge will be built on the south side of campus by Grove and Orchard Lodges, but the official location is not known.
“We need to do soil testing in probable locations, reason being we might run into an underground spring or soil may be too damp to build on,” Garvey-Nix said.
Garvey-Nix said parking is a large concern for students currently living on campus, and there will be an additional 70 parking spaces with the new lodge.
Ebone Frederick, nursing sophomore, said she thought adding a new lodge would be a great idea, but the downfall is parking.
“My concern is where the lodge will fit, and if it will have sufficient parking for the new students on campus,” Frederick said.
This is Frederick’s second year living on campus.
“Living on campus is full of benefits,” she said. “I am close to all my classes, I can wake up later and walk to class and I don’t have to deal with the daily search for parking and be faced with traffic.”
Jasmine Riddlespriger, psychology junior, is Frederick’s roommate and has returned for her third year living on campus.
“It is such a convenient location,” Riddlespriger said. “At home, you can’t get the same college life experience, and I liked it so much the first and second time, I came back again.”
There will be a few changes to the new lodge in order to improve the layout of the older versions.
The kitchen flooring will be changed, and the fire alarms on the ceiling will also be modified.
By CLARE BOWYER
Staff
clbowyer@ius.edu
