ACUHO-I News Blog

We’re not going to even talk about how belated this edition of You Were Asking is. We’ll just get on with it.

I regularly get requests for an ACUHO-I sanctioned square footage for a residence hall room or suite, or a recommended square footage for each student.

We don’t offer such advice; residential spaces and the institutions that offer them are so diverse, it would be a mammoth task to do so. However, there are some resources that can help you make informed decisions.

The MGT/ACUHO-I Construction Survey is a biennial study on members’ construction projects and plans. It can be found on the ACUHO-I library homepage, in the black bar across the top. (If you are requested for a time zone to enter the catalog, supply one, then enter as a guest, no login required.)

While you’re in the catalog, search “construction” to find member presentations on the subject.

Also, American School & University magazine conducts an annual residence hall construction report. It includes the average square footage per student (including common areas).

If you have any questions, feel free to write me: emily@acuho-i.org.

Green Builder, launched by Second Nature, is a free resource for colleges and universities interested in building and renovating sustainably on their campuses. The site features case studies on greening operations, financial assistance programs and promising technologies and products.

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?

An article from The New York Times today takes a look at the not-new-but-growing trend of putting white roofs on buildings to combat global warming. Whether it is for a home, a Wal-Mart, or (just possibly) a residence hall, the article says studies show that the white-topped buildings can reduce air-conditioning costs by a fifth or more in hot, sunny weather. And it does so by costing as little as 15 percent more, depending on materials.

The concept got an additional endorsement from United States’ Energy Secretary Steven Chu when he appeared on the television program, The Daily Show.

So, do you know what’s happening on your rooftops? Share suggestions and plans in the comment section.

Community colleges are quite popular lately, as more conventional-age (17-24) students seek them out for a bachelor’s degree–or the first two years toward that goal–and older applicants are using the down economy as an opportunity to bulk up their job skills. (Unfortunately, as the article linked above attests, popularity doesn’t necessarily translate to increased funding.)

Some institutions have noticed a greater percentage of their applicants are in the younger age group. These students often want more of the “student life” opportunities that they would get at a four-year institution, and some community colleges are responding, according to an article in Inside HigherEd. We already have heard about community colleges building residence halls; now there’s at least one building a student center, to better facilitate student group meetings, study groups and the like. The construction was inspired by the administration’s conversations with students regarding what would improve their experience at the school. Student centers are not unheard of at community colleges, but they aren’t common, either.

Duke’s Smart Home, the first LEED certified platinum residence hall, will not be easily replicated, said Duke’s dean of residence life and executive director of housing services, Eddie Hall. And that’s okay. Hall’s presentation, with his colleagues Gary Thompson, director of facilities planning and operations, and John Duncan, manager of apartment operations, is meant to serve as more of an inspirational story than a paint-by-the-numbers book. They discussed the Smart Home on Monday at the ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition. Inside HigherEd reported on the session.

Hard work, dedication to the project and a common vision helped, but there was also serendipity and opportunity involved. The trick wasn’t the specific circumstances, but recognizing a benefit when it presented itself.

A Duke student’s graduate thesis, based on the concept of a sustainable residence hall, attracted the attention of a member of Duke’s Board of Visitors, who also sat on the board of Home Depot. This happy circumstance set the planning process in motion. The Smart Home came for free, but it won’t stay free. There’s a lot of new and experimental technology in it with which the facilities department will have to familiarize themselves. The appliances were donated, which is great, but that also means they didn’t come with warranties.

The home also includes two laboratories where residents can innovate further. Their first innovation? It concerns an issue that is heavy on the hearts of all college students: beer theft. Students developed a thumb-print identification censor for kegs. Many smart projects have come out of the Smart Home, or are in process. Students have been toying with ways to improve the home’s function, appearance and utility. A list is available on the Smart Home’s website.

Hall, Thompson and Duncan advised session attendees to do what works best for their schools and what is most sustainable for them, rather than aiming for a specificLEED rating.  As The Chronicle of Higher Education reported last year, sometimes the LEED rating has its own financial and environmental costs. They acknowledged that the Duke Smart Home could not be easily replicated elsewhere. The important thing is to know the resources and technology available, and be open to opportunities.

New York University is building a new campus in Washington D.C.

In this lot.

See? It’ll be in that narrow, 60-foot-wide area just behind the streetlight, between the tan building and the dark brown building. The campus will occupy a 75,000 square foot building (to be constructed) and will be known to the acronym-happy as NYU-D.C. The campus will include five floors of student living space and classroom space. The living area will house 200 students, whose classes will be through the College of Arts & Sciences. History, journalism, politics, art history and economics will be the initial offerings when the campus opens in the fall of 2012. Nesting all the functions for daytime learning and nighttime living was quite a trick for the architects, according to a story in the Washington Business Journal: “It was like putting a little Swiss watch together, but we got it to work,” said architect Laurence Caudle.

Those Golden Gophers from Minnesota are the the first college in the country to use Build America Bonds to help fund new campus constrution projects. According to InsideHigherEd.com, these bonds were created to help state and local governments raise money for building projects by making it significantly cheaper for them to issue taxable bonds.

Among the intended projects listed in the official release from the school, was a new residence hall on the university’s Crookston campus. The article also discusses how the University of West Florida is taking advantage of additional changes in tax law that will open more funding options for their much-needed new residence hall; receiving a $15 million loan that would not have been possible just three months ago.

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s current issue offers an article that’s unfortunately timely and appros. Debt Bomb is Ticking discusses an unfortunate confluence of events: higher education institutions borrowed a lot of money to build and renovate structures (including residence halls). Thanks to the lackluster economy, the value of the assets held by the institutions have plummeted, leaving the institutions with a risky debt-to-assets ratio. An unbalanced ratio may violate the terms of the institution’s agreement (or covenant) with the bond holder or bank. In these circumstances, the loaning institution can demand repayment of all or part of the loan.

As with other elements of the declining economy, the effects can cascade. The US Department of Education uses financial data to determine institutions’ eligibility for federal student aid. Some of the debt swaps institutions made to hedge against rising interest rates on their debts have now become problematic, and unless interest rates change considerably by June, these transactions will have to be labeled liabilities in year-end financial statements.

A selection of college housing and student affairs headlines from InsideHigherEd.com. Look for these on a weekly basis in the ACUHO-I news blog.

BUILDING CAPACITY, SLOWLY: New federal data show small increase in number of Americans enrolled in college in 2007 — with fastest growth in for-profit sector.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/11/enroll

SUSTAINING STUDY ABROAD: Campuses are going green and going international. With air travel as the elephant in the room, how to reconcile the two?:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/12/studyabroad

IS THE LAPTOP LOVE-IN OVER? Colleges that helped provide students with computers were once celebrated. But as budgets tighten and more students come with their own machines, institutions are rethinking the value of laptop requirements:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/12/laptops

Not a lot of institutions have spare cash lying around, but for those who do–or those who can scrounge some up–now is prime time to request bids for construction projects, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article. The cost of construction materials are declining, and of course firms could use the business, so prices can be very competitive.

These tight times will mean that some firms will likely cease to exist, as the weak are winnowed from the herd, so to speak. And of course this period will be (one hopes) short-lived, so there are a limited number of schools that can use the downturn to their advantage.

The folks at Unviersity Business decided that if ACUHO-I can have themselves a residence hall competition, they can too, and they’ll use the dreaded “D-word” while doing it.

“Dorms of Distinction” highlights residences with choicey amenities; innovative designs and aesthetically pleasing details. If you need inspiration, this list is a good start. The evaluation team noted the distinctive halls often had several things in common:

Student input heavily informed much of the design, furnishings and amenities of many of the halls. The buildings have a homey feel; many feature furnishings similar to those in private homes; many have private bedrooms and smaller bathrooms that look more like those in houses. Finally, most of the halls have plenty of comfortable and inviting common areas, where residents can gather.

If you’re building, consider hosting one of the 21st Century Project prototype halls.