Coming to a college campus for the first time, especially as a first-time student, can be daunting. Just the notion of all the opportunity and freedom is enough to make anyone’s head spin. But with freedom comes responsibility, and one of the first tough decisions incoming students have to make is where to live.
The six on-campus housing options in addition to the off-campus apartments at Mustang Village provide a variety of options.
CHANGES THIS FALL
Students living in the residence halls have to buy a meal plan, and meal plans are available for students living in the apartments or off-campus. Michael Mills, director of housing and dining services, said the new dining contract will add many retail options to the food court and other buildings around campus.
“The food court is going to be totally renovated,” Mills said. Thanks to the new dining contract and a capital investment by the dining company, the new retail options will include a Chick-Fil-A and an expanded Freshens in the food court, while an Einstein Brothers Bagels will be added inside Dillard. Mills said they’re hoping to move the Starbucks inside the library.
And according to Mills, beginning this fall students will be able to use their meal plan at these retail options.
A new freshman residence hall is being built that will open next year, and construction of the new dorm means losing the parking lot behind Pierce Hall. According to Mills, the parking lot behind Prothro-Yeager beside the football fields will be expanded.
“That’s going to expand out to more than make up for the parking spaces that they lose over here,” Mill said. “But once the new residence hall opens we’ll need additional parking.”
ON CAMPUS
Living on campus has its perks, and according to Mills, being close to the action can help students perform better in and out of the classroom.
“We strongly feel the research has shown that students who live on campus housing during their beginning term of their college experience do better academically and socially,” Mills said.
Living on campus can allow students to get more involved, make more friends and utilize the library or labs more often. Living in campus housing means students pay one fee per semester that covers their rent, utilities, TV and Internet.
However, living on campus means following university housing policy, too. In the residence halls, this includes having to check in all guests and following a curfew for how late guests can stay.
There are three residence halls on campus, Killingsworth Hall, Pierce Hall and McCullough Trigg Hall. All residence halls feature communal kitchens and laundry services, and all are located at the heart of campus. All residence halls have air conditioning, cable TV and wireless Internet. These services, along with utility bills, are included in the price of the room.
The residence halls are reserved for incoming freshmen this fall, but Mills said there is a possibility that the incoming freshmen will overflow into off-campus housing. Students who are in overflow can be put on a waiting list to move into an on-campus option as units become available.
Killingsworth, a 301 bed six-story hall, is designated for girls only and features semi-private rooms outfitted with twin beds and mini fridges and two communal kitchens. Resident advisors, or RAs, are assigned to every floor to help new students adjust to college life and get them involved on campus. Although rooms don’t have attached bathrooms, the bathrooms in the hallways are private, meaning only one person uses them at once, instead of the large communal bathrooms common at other universities.
Pierce Hall, the 227 bed boys’ hall, has twin XL beds and a similar system of private bathrooms.
Both Pierce Hall and Killingsworth Hall have semi-private rooms in a zig-zag shape, allowing students partial privacy despite not having doors to separate their rooms.
McCullough-Trigg Hall is the 152 bed co-ed residence hall. Although it is open to both boys and girls, there is one gender per floor of the six-story building, with the fourth floor reserved for Honors program students. McCullough-Trigg offers more privacy because its floor plan has two bedrooms, each with a closet and a door, sharing a living room and vanity area. These rooms have mini fridges and living room furniture, too. Bathrooms are shared between two units, meaning four students will share one bathroom with a toilet and shower.
Cierra Lofton, social work freshman and McCullough-Trigg resident, says she likes the privacy of living in Trigg.
“I like that I have my own door and that I only have to share a bathroom with three other girls,” Lofton said. “It’s like a miniature apartment to get me ready for the real thing.”
There are three apartment complexes on campus – Sundance Court, Sunwatcher Village and Bridwell Court. All the complexes have bills like tv, wireless Internet and utilities included.
Bridwell Court apartments are for graduate students or students with families and unlike the other on-campus housing options, Bridwell uses 12-month contracts.
Sundance Court Apartments is the newest apartment complex on campus. The units are connected by interior hallways, giving the apartments a hotel feel. The complex is located on the edge of campus across the street from the wellness center. There are four-bedroom two-bathroom units and two-bedroom two-bathroom units available. All units feature a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and full size beds in the bedrooms.
Lofton, who will be living in Sundance this fall, said, “I like the hotel feel of Sundance and the walk-in closets.”
Sunwatcher Village, a garden-style apartment complex, offers the most privacy of all the on-campus housing options. Sunwatcher is centrally located, across the street from the three residence halls in the middle of campus. The bedrooms all have full size beds and the units come with full kitchens and a washer and dryer.
Jeanne Uwera, psychology freshman, lives in Killingsworth but will be in Sunwatcher Village this fall.
“I chose Sunwatcher because it’s close to all the places I go around campus,” Uwera said.
OFF CAMPUS
Mills said for the past few years, they’ve had to lease out rooms at Mustang Village to accommodate the students who could not find on-campus housing. Mustang Village is located about a mile from campus, and even though it’s off-campus, the same housing rules apply.
Mustang Village has resident assistants and just like on-campus apartments, all utilities and tv and Internet are included in the semester fee. Units include full kitchens and a washer and dryer.
The Mustangs Shuttle stops at Mustang Village to pick up students and runs 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The new MESA bus route expands bus services to the weekends and will take students to 26 locations around town including shopping, dining and entertainment.
Mills said the perk of living at Mustang Village as opposed to other off-campus housing options is that students are only liable for their room and all bills are included in the semester fee.
“We’re signing the lease so you don’t have to worry about being individually responsible,” Mills said.
Living off-campus, whether with MSU housing or not, offers more freedom. However, it also means commuting to campus and being away from the hustle and bustle of campus life.
Housing rules state that students must live on campus unless they live with their parents, have more than 45 credit hours, are 21 or older, are taking fewer than 12 hours per semester or are taking only evening classes.
With the record number of incoming freshman this fall, Mills said this rule is hard to enforce.
“Obviously in an overflow situation where we have more requests than we have beds for, we’re not going to be actively enforcing the housing policy because how can we?” Mills said. “At the same time we want students to still follow the policy unless they need to get out for a different reason.”
The above news article first appeared on The Wichitan website on May 14, 2015. It is reproduced here with permission from the author, myself, and the publication.
