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The Dispatch wrote
OSU spends on dorms as step to energize campus
Monday, May 5, 2008
BY ENCARNACION PYLE
In E. Gordon Gee’s perfect world, all OSU undergrads would live on campus, as they do at Vanderbilt University, where he used to work. But that would be hard to accomplish on the nation’s largest campus, so Gee has settled on first trying to get all sophomores to live in residence halls by 2012.
Gee’s grand vision includes bringing together as many students, professors and other staff members as possible to live on and around campus to create a more-vibrant learning environment outside the classroom.
National studies show that on-campus students generally get better grades, are more involved and graduate more quickly than those living off-campus.
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Eh. I guess I can sort of see where he’s coming from; I lived in the dorms for four years and I do think it helped my GPA. That said, I still have extremely strong reservations about this measure. Unlike in costly cities like New York and Chicago, off-campus housing at OSU is often cheaper, sometimes substantially so, than on-campus housing … and this is in spite of the fact that you’re sleeping (at a minimum) two to a bedroom on campus. Finally having had a bedroom of my own, I don’t think I could go back at this point.
If the university needs to start thinking about amortizing the costs of constructing new dorms sufficient to house all sophomores on campus, those room & board prices will escalate even more. Also, I was somewhat–um, apathetic–about my social life at OSU.
Off-campus housing also just offers so many more options in addition to having your own bedroom. You can shell out for a one-bedroom (there are a few singles on campus, but not many), or you can get a group together larger than even the largest dorms on campus; the biggest dorms on campus are the 8-bed, 4-bedroom octets in Lincoln and Morrill, but there are off-campus houses that reach 10-12 bedrooms, and you’ll have a lot more room in any 8-bedroom house than in an 8-bed/4-bedroom dorm.
I’m a bit more curious about the impact on the city of concentrating more undergraduates on campus, away from areas of the city where, not to put too fine a point on it, they can shop. Will the net effect be to put more money into campustown and less into the Short North?
Do they actually go to the Short North much anyway? Does living off campus make them any more likely to go there?
My experience from having gone to OSU is that most undergrads have their blinders on and are oblivious to the awesomeness of the city around them.
My experience from having gone to OSU is that most undergrads have their blinders on and are oblivious to the awesomeness of the city around them.
true that. most kids here don’t know what Gallery Hop is, and when I was trying to tell somebody that I went to Agora the other weekend, they’re like, “what’s that? where’s Grandview?? I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”
I don’t know what the kids do here, but explore the city isn’t one of them.
everyone’s afraid to ride the COTA anywhere. my roommate gets her car to drive from south campus to the Lennox. and I know this group of kids who take classes at Columbus State, and they all ride together in someone’s car, but when they have to go themselves, they don’t know how to get back to campus without someone driving downtown to get them
I don’t understand it. kids are weird. :D
Some of them just don’t venture farther from campus than they can walk. Others, when they go anywhere, go out to the suburbs (Easton & Polaris, surprise surprise). Others save up their money (or just borrow) to go out of town … Hocking Hills, Vegas, Myrtle Beach, Cancun, wherever. The idea of finding stuff to do outside the University District but still close to home doesn’t occur to a significant number of them. But there’s still a fairly good student presence at a lot of Columbus events anyway, just because of how big OSU’s student body is.
Sounds like there should be some sort of “social” internship program between Columbus and OSU. Find a friend based on common interests and show them around the city once or twice a month.
:D
to be fair, there are 8 gazillion clubs on campus and you can have an insanely active extracurricular life without setting foot outside campus
there’s a swing club at ohio state and when I was in it the older dancers would offer to pick people up at their dorms and drive them to off campus dances and drive them home and I still only got one or two takers on any given night. maybe i scared them. :twisted:
Yeah, OSU students are incredibly stupid. I guess that’s why they are still in school despite being legal adults.
Gee’s plan sounds awful. Yes I agree that living in a dorm will probably increase your GPA, but it will be disadvantageous to many more important things like how to pay bills, how to deal with neighbors, how to entertain guests, how to live in a diverse neighborhood and so on.
It also forces students and their families to pay more as I am totally positive that it is cheaper to live off-campus. Think of all the students that live with their parents. I did for a couple years. It saved alot of money. I think intends to Ivy Leauge the school and make it ever-more exclusive and less public. Bow Tied AssHat!
What is to happen to the swath of houses from 5th Ave to Arcadia and Kenny Rd to the Fairgrounds? Gentrification? Mass vacancies? I hope neither.
Night-life options in Columbus, or any other town, are somewhat limited until you turn 21. Campus has (or had) the 18 and over bars so that’s where the students go.
Considering the congestion from all the students living in the area, I don’t think it is that bad of an idea.
For those here pushing for alternate transit and a vast improvement to COTA service, OSU provides a huge gateway. Freshman and Sophomores on campus in dorms and cars banned for those students? There is a lot of ridership right there.
The University District could use some vast improvements. How many of us have lived in the apartments found in the area? I hate to see a local business suffer, but the nature of UD is that you have high demand for apartments with a finite resource available. Landlords take 1 house and carve it into 4-6 apartments, many barely 600-700 square feet and housing 2-3 people in each unit. Maybe this could “force” landlords to really clean up the area and create much more modern housing options.
It’s not just a bar thing- I’m thinking of all the arts downtown too. Though alcohol does seem to be the best lure.
It’s not just a bar thing- I’m thinking of all the arts downtown too. Though alcohol does seem to be the best lure.
I agree that most students probably don’t get out to arts events all that much. This could be a cost thing or an age thing.
It’s not just a bar thing- I’m thinking of all the arts downtown too. Though alcohol does seem to be the best lure.
I agree that most students probably don’t get out to arts events all that much. This could be a cost thing or an age thing.
It could be an “either” thing. The fact is that most of the country doesn’t get out to arts events too much. Those who surround themselves with the slender minority that do can lose sight of that fact, but I’d hardly imagine that the student body at OSU is all that unrepresentative of the American populace in that regard.
Realistically, 600-700sf isn’t all that small even for a two-bedroom in an urban area (though it would be small for three), and, more to the point, it’s a *lot* more space than you get in the dorms, and that’s often two to a bedroom, not two to a unit. Taylor Tower, the honors dorm at the corner of Lane & High, sleeps freshmen four to a bedroom. Generally, students move off campus in search of more space, so suggesting that the campus landlords subdivide units too much is a pretty thin reed. There are many landlords who will be happy to lease you an entire house with more bedrooms than are even available in most neighborhoods outside the UD, never mind a full kitchen, washer & dryer, and other things that are either unavailable, pay-per-use, or shared among 650 students in an on-campus setting.
The off-campus landlords do scrimp in quality sometimes. Of course, would you do otherwise if you were leasing to a transient population of 18-23-year-olds?
Students who want to pay a little more and get a little more still have options. I knew a few who (generally after turning 21) felt the campus scene was starting to get a little old and just moved down into Victorian Village or the Short North, or up into Clintonville or up Olentangy River Road a ways. They either took COTA or CABS to school or got a commuter parking pass. After all, the initial justification for the COTA passes for the whole student body was to expand the effective radius of housing options for students. It spared the university from having to operate their own buses so far from campus (though, at least as of 2004, they had three off-campus loops of moderate length … north, east, and south).
There’s enough free/cheap arts events to keep anyone’s schedule full. I think it’s more of a perception thing.
As much as I hated dorm life, it would be much, much better than what passes for an apartment at times in the UD.
I don’t think age is any reason to skimp on quality of the space. There are some great landlords on campus that do take care of their properties and don’t skimp, but you have to look.
I just think this could possibly lead to an overall improvement. Yes, you lose a good portion of your traditional consumer base, but it opens it up to a broader audience. Instead of seeing recent grads fleeing to other parts of town, improve the housing quality in the area and you could draw grad students and young professionals just getting started.
Ever wonder why west of High, especially west of Neil, is known for being a grad student area?
like it or not the stats don’t lie. The longer a student stays in a dorm (on any campus not just OSU) the better chance they have to academically succeed. And in turn graduating sooner and saving tuition money for the student…… and this is viewed as a bad thing??
I’ve always wondered how this affects students like Jo and I (I know we’re out of the Sophomore status on this one, but not everyone is), who are in their mid 20s, etc.
If someone told me that my soon to be wife and I had to live in the dorms, I’d be pretty livid.
There are usually exceptions made for married students and those living at home within 10-20 miles.
there is specific housing options for married students located on olentangy rd.
But we’ll be married. We don’t WANT to live next to campus. We WANT to live in the Short North. We can afford to live in the SN.
I dislike the limitations very much, and think it sucks that people will have to go through that.