There’s No Place Like Home?

Hollins students are looking for a home away from home.

 

BY.JESSICA DIFFER

 

Junior Bonnie Kveton was planning on living with friends in one of the apartments. That plan fell apart when one friend decided that she didn’t want to live in the apartments and the girls no longer had enough people to meet the minimum requirement.

 

“I didn’t find out until the day of housing sign ups,” said Kveton. “So I had to take a single wherever it was available. So next year I’ll be living in Main alone instead of living with my friends.”

 

Housing has been a hot issue at Hollins University recently with changes in store for the next school year. However in addition to the actual changes, there have been a lot of rumors flying about the campus.

 

Some students were under the impression that students would no longer be able to rent a double room as a single, but Kimberlee Fulcher, Area Coordinator at Hollins University insists that this is not true. She believes that the confusion arose after the procedure for renting a double was changed. Previously students could sign up for a double during the regular housing sign-ups. This year students had to be put on a waiting list until housing sign-ups were completed. If there were open doubles remaining, then those students would be allowed to rent out a double as a single for the standard fee.

 

Hollins University offers a variety of options to its students. There are regular dormitories like Tinker and West, where students may have a single or a shared double room and share kitchen and bathroom facilities with the rest of the students on the hall. They can choose to apply for special interest housing such as Near East Fine Arts House or Sandusky, the community service house. Fewer people share the facilities in these buildings and have a more communal feel. There are also apartments across the street from the campus, where three to five students may share a two or three bedroom townhouse. The apartments are particularly appealing to senior and juniors who are tired of living in dormitories.  

 

“I have lived in every form of housing that Hollins has,” said Kathryn Herndon ‘05. “They all have benefits and downsides. I think people worry too much about it. At the end of the day it’s just the place where you sleep.”

 

The most common problems arise when students have failed to send in the housing deposit. Some are quick to blame those in charge of housing, including Fulcher and her boss M.J. Konopke, for not bending the rules in regards to housing deposits and room occupancies.

 

“One of the biggest problems we have is when students fail to read the housing guidelines that we pass out to every student,” said Fulcher.

 

Some tips to remember during housing sign-ups are:

           

*Make sure that your housing deposit is paid early. This will help you to get a better lottery number. Also if your housing deposit is not paid you can not sign up for housing at all.

 

*Have more than one option in mind when it comes to room choice and roommates. Last minute changes can throw you for a loop.

 

            *Familiarize yourself with the housing rules.

 

The biggest change that will happen in the 2005-06 school year is the transformation of Starkie from a dormitory to office space for the English department. Starkie has been a special interest house for Women In Science and Engineering for the past two years, but WISE will be moved to Tinker the fall term, based on the decision of the members.

 

“The students of WISE were presented with several options from the Housing Advisory Board, and they chose to move to Tinker,” said Kimberlee Fulcher.

 

 Other students who have faced problems with housing before will say that they are quick to fix or make good on their mistakes.

 

“I was abroad in Paris during housing sign-ups,” said Annetay Henderson ‘05. “I requested a single and my proxy slip got lost. M.J. made up for her mistake by allowing me to have a bedroom to myself in the apartments instead of sharing.”

 

“Having to say no to a student is very hard but I try to work with them and come up with alternatives that may be as good or in some cases better than what they initially requested,” said Konopke.