Q&A with the Daily Bruin

  MARIAM LISA KRIKORIAN/Daily Bruin Mike
Foraker has been with UCLA Housing since 1981. He
currently serves as director, overseeing on-campus residence halls,
the Office of Residential Life and future housing projects.

Before meeting with UCLA Housing Director Michael Foraker, I was
having visions of future UCLA students crammed by the 10s into
closets, all sleeping in the same bed. After all, UCLA receives the
most applications in the nation and is located on the smallest UC
campus. As the student population increases, the only way to
describe future living arrangements seems to be
“foreboding.” However, after hearing the plans the
university has underway, in addition to Foraker’s realistic
attitude about the future challenges the housing office will face,
I feel confident UCLA can meet the increased demand for housing.
Like its “best and brightest” students, the university
is on the cutting edge of creativity. Where I thought there was no
space on that hill for human life, they have found some. Here the
Daily Bruin meets with UCLA Housing’s head-honcho to fill you
in on what exactly housing is about and where it’s going.

DB: What do you see as the primary responsibilities of UCLA
Housing? MF: That’s easy. Our primary responsibility is
to support the academy. Housing is a resource for the academic
community, so it exists predominantly to help the academic side of
the house with the recruitment and retention of outstanding
scholars.

DB: How do you go about doing that? MF: We work under
what’s called the Housing Master Plan. It started in the
mid-’80s and has been reconfigured a few times. The current
form lasts through the 2010-11 school year. In creating this
revised Master Plan, working with a committee of some 20 people,
including students from across the campus, a recommendation was
made to the Chancellor that UCLA should strive, when there is
availability, to guarantee housing for four years to all new
entering freshman, two years for transfer students, two years for
all new incoming grad students, and also through degree conferment
(assuming normal progress) for students with families. The reason
for that last one is because those who have children have
difficulty moving all the time, especially if their kids are in the
public school system.

DB: What are the challenges you face in achieving these
goals? MF: The challenges we have are trying to get all these
bed spaces on-line in a hurry. The campus is expected to bring on
an approximate 4,000 additional students as part of Tidal Wave
II.

How is UCLA Housing planning to handle that? MF: We are
aggressively planning the construction of approximately 4,000 bed
spaces. We have plans to build in two phases approximately 2,000
beds in what’s known as the Southwest Campus, which is
located on a piece of land just north of Gayley by Veteran and
Weyburn. In phase one we plan to build approximately 1,370 beds in
apartment configurations with parking underneath for single
graduate students, each of whom will, hopefully, receive their own
room. We’ve done extensive survey work and discovered there
are three things our graduate students want: privacy, affordable
rates and location. We hope to be able to provide every graduate
student with these things and have the operation running by fall
2004. For undergrads, we are working at a feverish pace to bring an
additional 2,000 beds to the hill. One structure will be built in
the area just north of Hedrick Hall that will house approximately
720 students. Another two will be built in and “L”
shape between Reiber and Hedrick where the current basketball
courts are (the courts will be moved to Sunset Rec). We hope to
have the first set of beds on-line by fall 2004, and the rest by
fall 2005. Once we’ve finished the construction of the new
housing, we hope to redevelop the area between Hitch and Saxon
suites to build a recreation building with a pool and exercise
rooms.

DB: You mentioned some situational challenges; do you face
“customer satisfaction” challenges? MF: We think
of our students as customers because they do bring a very
customer-driven perspective. As the cost of obtaining an education
continues to go up, students have higher expectations in terms of
what they’re getting for their dollars. Students come here
with expectations about the quality of the academic program, and
with that there’s an expectation that the totality of the
education experience will be reflective of that excellence. We in
housing won’t be satisfied with anything less than achieving
and sustaining excellence. We want to be known by our peers and
student clientele as being among the best in the country. There are
a few things we know that a good housing program can provide to
give students an edge. Students who live in campus residence halls
tend to have a little higher GPA than students who commute. They
are more likely to complete their BA in four years. They are more
likely to go on to pursue advanced degrees and when they graduate,
they self-report higher levels of satisfaction with the total
educational experience. Why is that? Think of commuting students:
you have to jump in a car every day, fight traffic, and head down
to the main campus. Hopefully, you have a parking space. This is
opposed to life in the residence halls where you live with 50 to 70
other students, all of whom have similar interests. Many are in the
same classes and study groups pop-up. Friendships are made in the
residence halls. The College of Letters and Science is even trying
to integrate with this area: TA sessions are held up here, and
resources at Covel Commons are right here. There’s a
community of young scholars here who wind up supporting one
another. It’s more difficult, generally speaking, for
students who commute to participate.

DB: The residence halls were originally designed for two
people per room. Can you explain why the switch to triples
occurred, and whether or not triple rooms are an ideal scenario for
student living? MF: We have triples in order to meet the
current guarantees, which are two years to incoming freshman and
one year to transfer students. The residence halls have become more
populated. This fall, we were housing 94 percent of the freshman
class. Of second years, we held about 70 percent. That’s a
huge increase from the last decade, in which we had about a 50
percent return rate. Students are voting with their feet ““
they want to stay in UCLA residence halls. So we created triple
rooms to give those folks an opportunity to remain in on-campus
housing. Obviously I don’t think it’s an ideal
situation. We at housing would prefer to have two students in high
rise rooms. A lot of students, however, self-select the triples
““ as many as 17 percent of returning residents — whether its
for financial reasons, or because they actually want two
roommates.

DB: How does the cost of on-campus housing compare with the
costs of off-campus housing? MF: It’s hard to compare,
because our room and board packages here include food services.
Three meals a day, and also the Office of Residential Life with the
RAs and PAs. You won’t find that in off-campus housing. But
in terms of the UC system and other housing programs in urban
environments, our rates compare pretty well. We have typically not
had the highest rates in the UC system. I came here in 1981 and
since then, we’ve floated around the middle to lower end of
the pack. Our rates are pretty favorable with other residence hall
programs.

DB: I’ll ask the question everyone wants to know: why
did it take so long to finish De Neve Plaza? MF: (laughing)
That’s a good question. There were a number of issues, and
they just caused complications and delays. But some of the
buildings are in their second year of occupancy and this coming
weekend, students will be moving into the newer sections.

DB: What can students expect from UCLA Housing in the
future? MF: They can expect our commitment to attaining and
sustaining excellence. They can expect a very aggressive building
and acquisition program to try and make sure we have sufficient
inventory for future generations of UCLA students. And they can
expect that we will endeavor to build and acquire inventory that is
suitable to student lifestyles and supports their efforts to
achieve academic goals. Interview conducted by Maegan
Carberry/Daily Bruin Senior Staff