Res. Living will not increase average rent

Dept. target upperclassmen Many students choosing to live on campus next year will not have to endure higher room rates. According to Director of Residential Living Gigi Simeone, the average undergraduate rent will not increase this year. Simeone added that "in the past [the rate increase] has been generally in the neighborhood of five to six percent." Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta, this is all "directly tied to a long and consistent and concerted effort to make the residence halls more marketable." "We are making a more aggressive push to make the residence halls the place to be," he said. Moneta explained that while the average room rent will not increase, some room prices will change. "Anytime we raised a rate, we lowered another to counter balance it," he said. However, neither Moneta nor Simeone would comment as to which of the residences would have an increased rate next year. But they did say that with this plan, all rates for rooms in the High Rises will either remain the same or decrease. Moneta said the only net increase will be a small upward cost adjustment for the installation of ResNet. He said this is because it is built into the budget that the price has to go up when they install the system into more rooms. This plan was the initiative of the provost's office, the budget office, the VPUL office and the residence staff, he added. "It was a giant effort of the four offices," Moneta said. The offices are undertaking an extensive marketing campaign -- which includes filming television commercials for on-campus living to air on the ResNet channel, he said. VPUL administrators are also putting up balloons in the residence halls and all over campus to remind students of target days in the application process, he added. Moneta said this does not mean they are masking the problems that exist in the residences. "There is certainly a lot more work that has to be done," he said. "My goal is to address all of the serious issues like mice and insects and quality of our repair services." He added that his office wants to change the current trend by attracting more students to stay on campus. "Right now we seem to be in a pattern of losing students to the off-campus market, and I would like to turn that around," Moneta said. He said his office plans to aggressively address service delivery in residences -- from repairs to furnishings -- to make on-campus living a more attractive option. "We are going to keep offering more services, better services and more aggressive service," he said. Moneta said this is a prelude to a long-range plan on undergraduate education. "I really want the residence halls in a position to support the institutional initiatives of undergraduate education," he said. Moneta said the proposal is subject to approval by higher authorities. "We proposed rates, but all rates are ultimately related to president, provost and trustee approval," he said. Simeone said the full rent schedule will be available in the assignments office in High Rise North starting February 8, when the retention process begins.

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