Res Living plan gives rebate to grad students

Department aimsDepartment aimsto increase gradDepartment aimsto increase gradtowers occupancy While the graduate towers could house more than 1,200 students, only about 150 graduate students currently live there, according to Ellie Rupsis, associate director of Residential Living. Even fewer undergraduates live in the buildings. In an attempt to increase the occupancy of the graduate towers for next year, the Department of Residential Living is offering current graduate students one month of free rent if they sign an occupancy agreement and convince another graduate student to live there as well. The "Save With a Friend" program will enable graduate students to save approximately $500 to $800, Rupsis said. "The ideal would be to fill the entire tower," she said. Assignments Counselor Shelli Mueller explained that the majority of people who live in the towers are students who want to be close to campus or are incoming students. Rupsis explained that another incentive for students to move to the grad towers is the installation of ResNet there for the coming year. "We're excited about ResNet coming to grad towers and want to encourage students to come on campus and try it," she said. In order to be eligible for the "Save With a Friend" program, students must be currently enrolled in a graduate or professional school and have a signed occupancy agreement for a space in the graduate towers for next year. The friend brought in must also be currently enrolled in graduate school and eligible to live on camus. Incoming students cannot take advantage of this offer. Under the incentive program, both students must remain for the full term. Students will be credited with one month's rent at the end of their occupancy period. This plan is valid through May 10, 1996. Interested students should contact the Assignments Office. Second-year graduate student John Schindler said he took advantage of the offer because he enjoys living in the graduate towers. "Any opportunity to save money is good by me," he said. "I'm a poor grad student." He explained that he received a flyer and contacted his friend to live in the buildings. "I think if there was some doubt, this put her over the edge," Schindler added. But third-year graduate student Bryan Coutain said he was not impressed by the incentive. "If you look at the rates off campus, while $500 is a nice incentive, in most of the cases you could get a better deal off campus," he said.