Communities Within the Community College Communities
The most recent Talking Stick has an article on community college housing, and Community College Times has an article on the same subject, quoting ACUHO-I Communications Director James Baumann.
There are 1200 community colleges in the United States; about a quarter have housing, and that number is growing. In the late 90s, there were only about 60 community colleges with housing. Institutions’ reasons for building housing include a need for a more cohesive student life and campus vibrancy; expensive or limited local housing options or a widespread student body. Some community colleges draw students from many miles away, and commuting isn’t practical for them. Are there any community colleges reading this blog? Do you have housing? If so, why? If not, do you plan on building?
Tags: Community College, Construction
Yes, there is at least one community college reading this blog, and yes, we have housing. From what I have been told, our Housing program was initially created because we were a rural institution with an extremely large service area. Instead of creating a multi-campus district, our college decided to build residence halls for the students who lived in the extremely distant areas of the district.
Now, the situation is a bit different. We are a multi-campus district, so our students on the far reaches of the district are served by those campuses. Our residence halls now allow us to bring international students and out-of-district students to our campus which in turn brings a lot of diversity to our otherwise quite homogenous campus. There are challenges in running a small operation – campus police/security and facilities support are just to – but the amount of campus life we bring to the table is impossible to deny.