No Place Like Home
Today’s prospective students are looking for more than your traditional dorm room and community bathroom down the hall. Colleges around the nation are feeling the pressure to modernize and upgrade their student housing facilities to compete for new students, and Rockhurst is no exception.

Sean Furey, an accounting major, shares Corcoran 218 with a roommate.

Remember futons, shower shoes, milk crates and built-in furniture? Nothing says dorm life like a well-worn beanbag chair, a minifridge and cramming all of it — along with your roommate and all his stuff — into a single room.

Many of the quirks of campus living are the same as they’ve always been. But some are changing.

The 12-by-16-foot shared rooms with community-style restrooms have been the norm for decades. Today, national trends suggest students are looking for more personal space, more modern facilities and more autonomy. On campuses across the nation, housing options such as suites and town houses are growing in popularity.

“Today, most of our students have never had to share a bedroom or even a bathroom,” says Sean Grube, director of residence life and assistant dean of students.

“We face a lot of the same challenges as other schools.” In addition to students with higher expectations, Rockhurst and other schools are dealing with aging facilities, which have outdated floor plans and are more costly to maintain. Students expect to have reliable access to the Internet and campus network and to be able to plug in a variety of gadgets that demand much more power than the building was designed to provide, requiring expensive technology and power supply upgrades.

“A residence hall was originally designed for eating and sleeping and that’s it,” says Grube. “There was one house mother for the entire building who would keep an eye on things. Today each hall has staff members who help provide social and educational programming for residents. The focus is how we can develop you as a whole person and help fulfill your spiritual, social, physical and educational needs.”

Rockhurst currently houses approximately 850 students in three residence halls, 42 town houses and 26 on-campus houses. Built in 1958, Xavier-Loyola Hall is the oldest residence hall. Corcoran Hall followed in 1962 and McGee in 1966.

The Town House Village, with apartment-style units, was built in 1994 in response to the growing demand for housing and the trend toward more personal space. Each unit has a kitchen and shared living space for four to six residents.

More than 175 upperclassmen live in Xavier-Loyola, the University’s oldest residence hall.

Then in 2006, Rockhurst introduced on-campus housing, which gave students the opportunity to live in University-owned houses that hold three to six students, located on the streets adjacent to campus.

“Living in a residence hall your freshman year is important,” says junior Anna Connelly, who lived and worked as a resident assistant in McGee Hall during the 2007-08 academic year. “I wouldn’t have traded that experience, because I learned a lot about how to live with people. But I’m super-excited to live in an on-campus house next semester.”

This fall, Connelly will serve as an RA to the residents of 14 student houses north of campus.

“In a house, you’re still part of our community, but it allows you a little more independence. We expect you to be responsible, and we’re here if you need us.”

Rockhurst uses a competitive application system to determine who gets into the popular town houses and on-campus houses. Students are selected based on their service and leadership experience, GPA and number of credit hours.

According to Grube, the on- campus houses option is fairly uncommon at universities, but seems to be working well to meet students’ desire for more inde- pendent living environments, as well as the overall demand for student housing.

Some students are not as excited about their housing options.

Rockhurst’s town houses feature apartment-style units, complete with kitchens and shared living space.

“I’m really happy with this room,” says junior accounting major Sean Furey from Corcoran 218. “But I’m moving to X-L next year, and I’m concerned about it.”

Furey had planned to move into a town house in the fall with some friends. But after realizing how much more the town houses cost, he decided to stay in a residence hall, and his only option was Xavier-Loyola, the oldest one on campus. Corcoran is reserved for freshmen; a few rooms may be offered to sophomores when space is available.

Furey says he didn’t consider housing a major factor when he was deciding which college to choose, but he actually ruled one school out because of the poor condition of its residence halls.

That’s a big concern for Lane Ramey, director of freshman admission.

“I can understand that if you’re going to stay somewhere for four years, you want it to be nice,” he says. “Today’s students aren’t just looking for strong academics. They’re looking for the whole package.”

Colleges around the nation are responding with a variety of options.

Some examples on the higher end include units with plasma TVs, granite counter tops, walk-in closets, high ceilings, full-size bathtubs, on-site game rooms and swimming pools.

But experts warn the need to balance luxury with purpose.

“The freshman residence hall experience really forces students to engage with their peers,” says Sandy Waddell, director of new students and retention services. “In some of the newer residence halls around the country, the focus is on providing privacy, but the more privacy students have, the less time they spend interacting and getting to know their classmates.”

That’s why Rockhurst is working to find a balance between giving students what they want and maintaining a strong campus community.

“Part of the challenge is our competition,” says Ramey.

This double-loaded corridor is a traditional floor plan that can be found in all three residence halls.

He says other colleges are outpacing Rockhurst in the construction of new and improved housing options. Students who look at Rockhurst also consider the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Kansas, Truman State, Creighton and Saint Louis University. Several of these are either constructing new housing or have opened new facilities in the past couple of years.

Another trend shows many colleges are working to integrate learning and interactive experiences into students’ living environments. That might involve a classroom or study space located on the ground level of a residence hall. Or perhaps a coffee shop where students would spend some time and interact. These living and learning environments help integrate all aspects of a student’s experience and ensure that learning isn’t limited to the classroom.

“I’d like to see more study areas and learning communities,” says Connelly. “And the furniture could be a little nicer, but we’re getting there. I think the physical condition of a building is much less important than how welcome it feels.”

McGee Hall, home to Rockhurst’s freshmen women, is undergoing a renovation this summer.

For now at least, Rockhurst is doing what it can to improve its facilities. Thanks in part to a generous gift, McGee Hall is undergoing a renovation this summer that will provide new carpet, paint and furniture throughout, as well as a redesigned lobby and new elevator. The project is scheduled to be complete by the time students move back in August.

As work continues on the University’s 20-year master plan, the Rockhurst community will determine the best approach for investing in its student housing.

“Our goal is to provide affordable, well-maintained housing that makes you feel like you’re a part of the campus community,” says Grube. “I think we’re achieving that.”