UI offers off campus housing to accommodate record freshman class

The University of Iowa campus is again filled with students as classes resumed for the fall semester today.

The record first-year class - expected to be about 4,500 new students - forced UI officials to look off campus to meet demand for housing. And the university again has some students in temporary housing in the residence hall lounge areas of four buildings, which typically happens each fall.

But the number of students in temporary housing is actually less this fall than in some past years, Director of University Housing Von Stange said, because the UI placed about 200 students in off-campus apartments. Stange estimates there are 150 to 170 students in temporary housing in the dorms.

The UI rented all of building three - 160 beds - at The Lodge, a large apartment complex about two miles southwest of campus. That option filled up fast when it was offered to transfer and international students, Stange said. No freshman were placed at The Lodge due to its distance from campus, he said.

The Lodge will be run like a residence hall, with resident advisers and professional UI staff on location. Students could choose two- or four-bedroom furnished apartments, running $5,600 to $6,600 for the year, comparable to residence hall double rooms with air conditioning, Stange said.

Jacob Lane, a 21-year-old transfer student from Muscatine Community College, said he was upset at first that no on-campus housing was available and he might be placed in temporary housing. But he's happy at The Lodge, and said he likes the amenities and the big four-bedroom apartment he shares. He said another upside is he's met lots of fellow Lodge dwellers on the bus rides to and from campus.

“We get our own rooms with our own sink. I don't think they get that in the dorms,” Lane said.

Andrew Quillin, 19, a transfer student from Indian Hills Community College, said he likes that The Lodge is a little more independent than the dorms.

“There's a big living space and a kitchen,” he said. “It's absolutely better than temporary housing.”

UI students in temporary housing will be moved into permanent housing as it becomes available, but it's possible some students will spend the fall semester in temporary housing, Stange said. Typically, eight students a secured lounge area of a dorm floor, with bunk beds, dressers and desks. They pay a cheaper housing rate.

“We attempt to get everybody placed as quickly as possible,” he said.

The UI this year also reserved eight to 10 five-bedroom unfurnished apartments in downtown Iowa City to meet student demand, though those didn't fill as quickly as The Lodge and temporary housing options, Stange said. Students who chose that option signed a lease with the private landlord, rather than with UI housing, he said.

The university has plans for a new residence hall to be completed by fall 2013.

“It's likely we're probably going to be looking at the same size of classes in those years, so we'll look for off-campus options for the next two to three years,” Stange said.

The expected record enrollment of 4,500 first-year students is about 450 more freshman than last year, and about 200 more than the previous record class from 2006. Official enrollment counts are taken on the 10th day of classes.

It's likely small class sections will increase by one or two students, and large lecture classes will increase by 10 or 20 students, Beth Ingram, associate provost for undergraduate education, said.

But the university did hire more instructors and added a few dozen extra class sections to make sure class sizes didn't get too big, she said. Extra sections were added in high-demand areas like math, creative writing and biology labs, she said.

“I think it will be hard for students to not notice it at all, but the idea is that their experience won't change,” she said.