CLOSER LOOK: Third-years returning to on-campus living

With construction on two of the three new residential plazas
completed and the third well underway, this years’
second-years will be the first UCLA students to have three years of
guaranteed university housing available to them.

Last spring, second-year students already living on campus were
notified that for the first time, they would be allowed to apply
for a third year of on-campus housing. But no official guarantee
was made until summer because UCLA Housing Administration needed to
be sure there would be enough space, said Community Housing and
Outreach Manager Frank Montana.

“With the construction, you’re always concerned
about will there be any stoppages or delays, so you try to be
conservative about predicting when that’s going to be
available,” Montana said.

Montana added that “part of it is that we’ve never
offered housing to third-years, so the third-year student is kind
of the swing vote. Once we know what the demand is by the
third-year student, that makes it easier.”

Montana said that about 19 percent of eligible third-years chose
to live on campus this year, a statistic which he expects Housing
will use as a baseline for its projections in future years.

Some third-year students, like Chirag Desai, a sociology student
who lives in Hedrick Summit, prefer the convenience and social
activity of living on campus, even though it costs more on average
than an off-campus apartment might.

“There are obviously trade-offs,” Desai said.
“It’s worth the convenience, the easy access to campus
and dining hall facilities, and the social aspect. … I would feel
like I was shutting myself off if I lived in the
apartments.”

But even among the third-year students living on campus, not all
of them felt that the convenience of living on campus made it worth
the cost and limited freedom.

Lindsay Whalen, a third-year history student living in Sproul,
originally wanted to live in an apartment this year, and only chose
Sproul after plans with her would-be roommates fell through.

Whalen said she thought most third years would choose to live
off campus if possible, because of the freedom to party and make
more noise than would be allowed in the dorms.

Promising students three years of university housing is meant to
be an intermediate step on the way to guaranteeing all four years
of residency by 2010.

At that time, there will be 9,256 on-campus spaces available, up
from 8,423 this year, Montana said.

He added that the new maximum capacity will not take effect
until 2010 because of planned renovations on the residential floors
of the four high rises. Each high-rise will be closed for one year,
beginning next year with Sproul Hall, Montana said. After Sproul
will follow Dykstra, Rieber and Hedrick, in that order, until 2010
when all residence halls will be open, including the new Rieber
Vista, Rieber Summit and Hedrick Summit.

Alfred Nam, the associate director of rooms for UCLA Housing,
told the Daily Bruin in May that he expected the renovations to
include mechanical work, some electrical work, and improvements to
bathrooms, windows, ventilation, emergency power and possibly
carpets and drapes.

Frank Montana said that even though there will be a net loss in
on-campus spaces during the renovations, the university still
expects to have enough room for all third years who choose to live
on campus.

“One of the reasons is the (reduced) number of third year
students next year,” Montana said, explaining that the class
of 2007 has fewer students than most of UCLA’s graduating
classes, because those students were admitted during a major budget
crisis that forced the university to restrict enrollment.

He also said that there are presently 164 on-campus spaces that
are not being used ““ a number which the Housing
Administration expects will go down when Sproul closes next
Fall.

“We know we’re certainly capable of making that
guarantee … unless there was some large percent of increased
demand from those third years, which we’re not
anticipating,” Montana said.