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As housing costs rise, maintenance issues plague residence halls

As university housing costs continue to increase annually, several Oklahoma Christian University residence halls have struggled with quality and condition issues this academic year.

At the beginning of last semester, sophomore male students assigned to live in Wilson East were displaced to the apartments due to safety concerns. The hall was reopened during the first week of December, with students given the option to pay an increased rate to remain in the apartments, or move back to their original housing assignment.

In late October and early November, a plumbing issue displaced dozens of freshmen female residents living in Gunn Henderson hall. Some found refuge in upperclassmen apartments, while others spent the night at the nearby Memorial Road Church of Christ.

According to the Oklahoma Christian website, a standard dorm or apartment for the 2019-2020 school year will cost $2,200 per semester. For the current academic year, a dorm room in Wilson costs $1,990 per semester.

Some students, including senior Jake Weith, said the mounting maintenance issues make it difficult to justify increasing housing prices.

“For the price that we pay, the quality is not up to par,” Weith said. “For Wilson, each year the housing price has increased about $200. That price has not been reflected in the quality. If anything, it has been declining.”

According to Weith, the maintenance issues could be minimized if Oklahoma Christian allowed students to live off campus.

“I would rather live off campus,” Weith said. “I think the regulations enforced by OC are overly limiting. Someone decided to increase prices and at the same time not look at an increase in quality. When it comes to consumer satisfaction, there is a big disconnect. If they raise prices in the future, they should look at how that is going to affect the students of the school. The continual raising of prices has no compassion or empathy, unless it is reflected in improvements made on campus.”

In order to live off campus, a student must be of part-time status, married or at least 23 years old at the beginning of the semester. Exceptions are also made for students with more than 124 credit hours, as well as those living with their parents.

Residence Life Head Candace Bass said the on-campus housing requirement is due to concerns for student success and involvement, and said the best interests of the students are kept in mind.

“Oklahoma Christian University values its students’ residential experience, because the University values its students’ success,” Bass said. “Living on-campus provides many opportunities—strong social circles, proximity to class and activities and ease of access to professors and tutoring. Because of this, students who live on-campus are more likely to succeed in college and graduate. Some universities are unable to offer on-campus housing to all of their students due to space constraints. Fortunately, OC has the space for all its undergraduate students to live on campus.”

Although having old residence halls sometimes introduces concerns and problems, Bass said the administration works hard to fix these issues in a timely manner.

“We recognize the challenges of having older residential halls, and Residence Life works closely with University Services to improve the living spaces,” Bass said. “When facility issues arise, we work together to address them quickly and to accommodate the students. We have recently made improvements in lobbies and Phase 3, and have plans to improve the male residential hall outdoor space.

The Department of Residence Life’s goal is for all students to have a positive living experience on campus. Our staff thoughtfully and prayerfully reaches out to students, and hosts engaging hall events. We want each student to feel supported by our team.”

Motivated to do something about the issue, Weith said he approached administration weeks ago with concerns about the quality of living in Wilson. After asking Residence Life for a price reduction Weith said they offered him a lump sum of $250 towards housing.

“I am actually going in tomorrow to ask for everyone in Wilson East to have the reduction that I did, because it really isn’t fair to everyone else,” Weith said. “Based on conversations I’ve had with residents of Wilson, everyone has the same frustrations. We’ve all dealt with the construction, and it just feels like Residence Life is really disconnected from the daily annoyances that we’re going through. It’s definitely affecting the OC experience for all of us.”

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