By Jacob Gomoll
Edgewood College’s residence halls have a gross maximum capacity of 680 people; but they are only currently housing 473.
This means that the residence halls are currently 207 below the maximum capacity of students.
And that means that the college is losing a large sum of money by not filling up to their maximum capacity.
In single and double rooms alone, Edgewood is losing between $257,986 and $515,972 a semester.
And being 30 percent below capacity calls into question some of the rules in the housing contracts that were designed for years when Edgewood was regularly filling up the residence halls to the max.
The vacancy rate does not mean that there are lots of vacant rooms at Edgewood. It only means that the college is far below its maximum capacity.
For example, in rooms that can fit two people, there may only be one person, or in rooms that can fit three people, there may only be one or two.
Regardless, 30.5% of all rooms in residence halls at Edgewood College are not completely full.
According to Claire Mand, director of residence life at Edgewood College, it hasn’t always been like this–before the college built East Regina, Edgewood was at maximum capacity in all their halls every year.
It wasn’t until a couple years ago, when the number of incoming freshmen as well as graduating seniors started declining, that vacancy in the residence halls was present.
“I don’t want to say we overbuilt, but maybe we should have been paying more attention to the numbers,” she said.
What this means
This means that Edgewood could shut down its largest Residence Hall (DOM) and still end up being under maximum capacity.
It could also shut down its oldest and least renovated residence hall, Marshall, and relocate those students to allow for more comfortable living.
A student can request to live in a two-person room on their own. If they do so, they have to pay 1.5 times the regular price of living there.
A single student can also live in a two-person dorm by themselves if they do not get paired with a roommate. If that is the case, they only have to pay the normal rate.
Contracts requirements
All incoming freshmen are required to sign a two-year contract when they come to Edgewood College.
The agreement was put into place when more students wanted to come to the college than it could fit.
But now that the residence halls are regularly below maximum capacity, the two-year contract may not make sense anymore.
Edgewood has not given up on refilling the residence halls to maximum capacity
Mand still thinks that it is possible for the number of incoming freshmen to increase, and, in time, Edgewood would be able to start filling up to maximum capacity again.
Attracting freshmen
Edgewood has been trying to attract more freshmen, creating a new volleyball team, lacrosse team, and E-Sports team, among other things.
The college is also going to allow pets to live in certain residence halls starting in the Fall 2019 semester.
Edgewood has also changed the rule and has begun to allow the three-person suites in Siena and Weber to be occupied by only two people without any additional charge.
Mand said that may be a financial problem in the short run, but relaxing the rules may keep upper classmen on campus longer and be better in the long run.
Res halls trends
Occupancy in the residence halls is affected by several trends.
Rather than living on campus, where there are rules and restrictions that students have to follow, students have been choosing to live off campus more.
And Mand said incoming freshmen have also been coming more and more from the Madison area. Students from the Madison area do not need on campus housing.Page Break
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