Elise Balin
Staff Writer
Three UW students, including sophomore Jessica Hawki, sophomore Courtney Rainbolt and freshman Kaytlyn VanderMeer spoke about their individual experiences living in the dorms, which all included a sense of frustration.
“I think [UW] could save money by updating the dorms that we have now and putting a little TLC into them instead of spending money to build new ones,” said Hawki.
All three students said they felt the cost of housing on campus is overpriced for the quality of rooms that students are provided. Hawki, Rainbolt and VanderMeer all reflected back on the first two months of the fall semester, where their dorm rooms were far from comfortable without air conditioning in the buildings. They emphasized that it is not living in dorms that is frustrating, but living specifically in the UW dorms is what proves to be an issue.
“I do think they are clean but [they are] extremely outdated,” said VanderMeer.
Along with the dissatisfaction of the outdated dorms students currently live in, the meal plan requirements for the students living on campus are expensive. The meal plan requirement that the Board of Trustees put in place for last fall semester required all students living on campus to sign up for a 12-week meal plan. Due to this requirement, students spend $11.00 per meal for meals they do not always eat.
Rainbolt said on an average week, she will only eat six or seven meals from her meal plan because sometimes she just wants something different for a meal. Instead of paying for the six or seven meals she eats, she still has to pay for the 12 meals that are required. The students also have issues with the fact that they lack basic necessities, including water fountains on each floor.
The Trustees have yet to release the required meal plan contract for the upcoming fall semester.
Students have had issues involving the dorms before. In 2018, the resident life overbooked the dorms, which forced students to reside in the common areas for a period of time.
The size or the lack of space was not the largest concern the students had, but the cost of living for the quality that they received. Hawki, Rainbolt and VanderMeer all said they feel like changes need to be made in the future. They said they strongly felt the university needs to invest a portion of the money that students pay for housing to better the current living situations in the dorms.
