Students living at River Crossing Apartments on campus can expect to see another increase in fees for next year. There are many causes for the 3.5% increase, including utilities increase, pro forma budget and additional staffing.
According to Mike Polcari, interim director for housing and residential life, the main cause of the rise is 8% increase in utilities.
Another major factor is the pro forma budget. The plan was already set up for housing costs to increase over a course of time to help pay for the debts.
“At the beginning of the note we don’t pay as much because we’re still getting ourselves squared away,” Polcari said. “Eventually it stabilizes.”
The costs are set to stabilize in year six of the forty year plan. This year, however, the debt increase is 5.4%. Students will only see an increase of 3.5% for their costs.
For this year, the costs for a one bedroom were $3,930 per semester. They will rise to $4,068. Two bedrooms will go from $3,144 to $3,254 per semester and four bedrooms, the most popular type of room, will go from $2,600 to $2,691.
Most of this rise comes from the pro forma budget; but some will be used for other things including utilities, staffing, and insurance.
We have also had a significant increase in other budget line items, such as benefits to employees, which was about 5 percent [of the total rise],” Polcari said,
“Some of these items weren’t significant by themselves, but together they amount to a significant increase so we had to increase to 3%.”
Yet Polcari does not think this rise will really make the difference in whether students choose to live on or off campus. Students in 4 bedroom apartments will be paying less than $100 more per semester. Doing the math, Polcari reminds that this is only $10 more per month.
“Our prices were already low relative to the other IU campuses,” Polcari said. He also said that there are many other amenities on IU South Bend that students wouldn’t get living off campus.
“You live next to fellow students, you’ve got staff willing to help out, you don’t have to buy a vacuum. If you’ve got packages, they don’t get left outside your door.”
According to Jeff Jones, vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management, there is also another staff position being added to the budget.
“We plan to make this a live-in position that will reside in housing and assist with on-call coverage, and especially to add programming and other services for residences,” Jones said.
Even with the increase, Jones believes the new facilities offered, coupled with the old, will benefit students greatly.
Student housing fees increase
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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