Triple troubles tumble

Last year, Annie Kong’s room in Hedrick Hall was so
cramped with three beds and three desks that her roommate had to
climb on top of her own desk to reach her bed.

“If you put your arms out on either side, you
wouldn’t be able to make a full circle because you’d
hit the bunks,” said Kong, a second-year undeclared
student.

“My friends from other schools called it “˜the
elevator’ because that’s how small they thought it
was,” she added.

This year, Kong’s double room has the space to make it
more “homey.” She has a shelf for snacks, a TV and
enough wall space for posters and pictures.

“(Being in a double) is so much better. It’s more
spacious, less claustrophobic. I’d choose being in a double
over a triple any day,” Kong said.

Kong resides in one of the 4,504 double rooms available on the
Hill this year, which is 138 more double rooms than were available
last year.

For the first time since the opening of De Neve Plaza’s
Cedar, Dogwood, Evergreen and Fir buildings in 2000, there are more
doubles than triples on the Hill.

“We are delighted with the opportunity to provide more
doubles this year. The increased doubles provided more students
with the accommodation they wanted,” said Associate Director
of Housing Angelina Marciano.

This decline in the number of triples is partially due to the
re-opening of Sunset Village’s Courtside building and its 460
bed spaces. Courtside was closed for a year mainly to repair water
damage.

Also responsible for the decline in the number of triples is
that the number of residents on the Hill is lower than what had
been projected for this school year.

Housing estimates how many students will enter the residence
halls based upon previous patterns in the number of residents.
However, the number of students who desire housing may be higher or
lower any given year, based upon what students decide to do, said
Office of Residential Life Associate Director Jack Gibbons.

Because UCLA guarantees housing to all entering freshmen for two
years and to all transfer students for one year, those who want
housing will receive it, regardless of whether the number of
students who apply is higher than expected.

As a result, the number of triples change to meet that
guarantee.

Sometimes this guarantee can result in severe overcrowding, as
what occurred two years ago, when so many students applied for
housing that some were placed in the residence hall study
lounges.

If the enrollment projection for new first-year students,
transfer students and returning second-year students remains
constant, the number of double rooms provided next year should
remain similar to the number provided this year, Marciano said.

The construction of three new residence halls, Rieber North and
West and Hedrick North, will result in an estimated 9,030 more
spaces for students by the 2005 fall quarter.

Of these, 15 percent are projected to be triples, 78 percent
doubles and 7 percent singles.

These three buildings are part of the Housing
Administration’s 10-year master plan in which it hopes to
guarantee housing to all incoming freshmen for four years and to
all transfer students for two years while reducing the number of
triples.

“As a result of the new guarantee, we know we must
increase the number of beds available. Simultaneously, we must
provide the type of accommodations that students prefer,”
Gibbons said.

The new single and double rooms were planned with the
expectation that the upper classmen eligible for the new guarantee
would prefer accommodations with more privacy.

Whether freshmen or sophomores would be allowed to apply for the
one-bedroom suites is still unknown, as Housing and ORL have not
determined an assignment policy for the new buildings.

It is unlikely that the new buildings will be occupied
exclusively by upper division students, Gibbons said.

It is not certain whether Hedrick North will house upper
division students upon its completion in January 2005, or whether
the extra rooms will first be utilized to “de-densify”
the existing residence halls and make more double rooms
available.

“Ultimately, we will try to have both, but until then we
need to prioritize our resources to see what we will achieve
first,” Gibbons said.

Yet the cost of housing may be a large factor in whether
students decide to live in the residence halls or not.

The cost of a double room on the Hill with 11 meals per week
costs between $1,000 to $1,200 a month, according to the Housing
Web site. However, the average cost of an apartment in Westwood is
about $500 per month, excluding utilities, food and internet,
according to UCLA Community Housing.

Such differences in cost may deter upper division students from
choosing to live in the residence halls for their third and fourth
years at UCLA.

“The price would partially prevent me from living in the
dorms again. I also want to experience the apartment life,”
Kong said.

“Dorm life is great, but you want a change, and I
don’t think the suites will give me the change I want,”
she said.

Some second-year students who wanted that change from the
residence halls decided to live in the apartments, rather than in
the residence halls.

Though the number of second-year students living in the
residence halls this year has not decreased noticeably, the
percentage of residence hall returners this year is 3 percent lower
than last year, Marciano said.

Second-year English and business-economics student Jason Choi
decided to live in an apartment because he is planning to study
abroad during winter and spring quarters.

“I don’t regret living in the apartments. I like the
feeling of independence because I make my own payments on rent and
utilities, and I have to cook for myself,” Choi said.

Choi’s second-year undeclared roommate Jake Lee is also
pleased with the independence that comes with the apartments.

“It’s more comfortable. I get my own bathroom, my
own kitchen, and I can do whatever I want,” Lee said.

“The crowdedness in the dorms is okay, but I like the
quietness around here in the apartment. It’s easier to study
and just relax,” Lee said.

Preliminary results from Housing surveys suggest that the cost
of room and board, construction impacts and a desire to move into a
more private apartment setting are the main reasons why some
second-year students choose not to return to the residence halls,
Marciano said.

“We think the availability of single rooms will be
attractive to upper division students. Once construction of Hedrick
North, Rieber West, and Rieber North is completed we are confident
that the residential living-learning community at UCLA will be the
place to be,” Marciano said.

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