"With no more Super 8, improvements made throughout dorms"

On-campus housing has always been in high demand, and in past years students have even been housed in local motels and office buildings, but according to UB officials those days are long gone.

One of the biggest factors in alleviating overflow was not the creation of new housing spaces on campus, but the new University at Sweethome apartments, according to Joseph Krakowiak, director of University Residence Halls and Apartments.

"It's not a matter of new bed spaces. It's the fact that there's a new 820-bed facility across from campus, the University Apartments, which is a private for-profit company," said Krakowiak. "When you think about that addition to the number of beds, it's likely that we won't have as much demand. So we tailored our numbers back a little bit. However, we are absolutely positively chock-full."

Many students, like Shaun Spellman, opted for the Sweethome apartments rather than on-campus housing.

"I knew after two years in the dorms that I was ready to leave campus. I put in my two years, it was cool, but I wanted a place of my own, my own room," said Spellman, a junior business administration major. "I had actually applied to the on-campus apartments first and got denied for those, but it worked out for the best. I looked into Sweethome and ended up signing the lease for there."

URH&A also implemented an incentive program to encourage students to notify them if they wouldn't be returning to the dorms in the fall.

"We had people who knew they would be dropping out, but they don't necessarily tell us," Krakowiak said. "Aside from just offering to give their money back, we also offered iPods to people who told us they wouldn't be coming back. This in turn enabled us to find more bed spaces."

Some might find this to practice questionable, since iPods are costly and that cost might outweigh the benefit of making extra room in on-campus housing. Krakowiak said that cost was never an issue.

"We had a deal on the iPods. Our staff said we should increase our appeal by offering something other than returning the deposit, and that was it," Krakowiak said. "I'm not interested in making a profit, I'm interested in housing students so they can graduate. That's not my job to make a profit, I have to balance my budget and house students coming here from all over New York and out-of-state."

Giving iPods to these students wasn't a huge burden on the budget, according to Krakowiak.

"It's a delicate balance, but we've been good about it the past few years," he said.

Along with the incentive program, URH&A once again opened Michael Hall - known for being a medical center, not a dorm - in order to respond to the demand for on-campus housing.

"I originally did not plan on opening Michael Hall on South Campus, but we had to, adding 69 beds to the mix," Krakowiak said. "With those 69 beds, we're at 100 percent occupancy right now.

URH&A has also been making improvements throughout on-campus housing. This summer, they spent $6 million on rehab to keep spaces updated, a project that brought new windows to the Governors dorm complex and new furniture to the South Campus dorms, replaced 13 bathrooms in Porter Quad, improved 10 kitchens in Spaulding Quad, and replaced the roof on Porter Quad, according to Krakowiak.

One project that carried into the fall semester, though, is the replacement of carpets in Hadley Village, an effort that has continued to the chagrin of some residents.

"Pretty much, I just think it's a pain because we have all of our stuff out of our rooms and into the kitchen and the bathroom in order for them to replace the carpets, since they're doing it all in one day," said Stacy Dupuis, a senior communication major. "There's not enough room to fit four people's stuff in the kitchen and bathroom. That's the reason why I didn't move out of Hadley, I didn't want to move my stuff."

Dupuis continued by saying that she would rather the project have been completed over the summer rather than during the new semester.

"I understand that they want to change the carpets because we're the oldest village in UB, but they could do it over the summer while just one person is living there," Dupuis said. "All of my stuff could've fit in the kitchen and I would've been fine. They could've replaced the carpets in apartments that are vacant, but now it's an inconvenience to the kids who've moved in."

According to Krakowiak, the carpet replacement was part of a regularly scheduled five-year plan to keep the living spaces up-to-date across campus.

"We're going to replace the carpet in Hadley all the way through December," Krakowiak said. "We have a life cycle for each of our products in the apartments, and we put aside money every year to keep them renewed. This year, Hadley's carpets were the thing that started to appear shabby."

Krakowiak also said that a new card access system - more similar to the ones in the rest of the on-campus housing facilities - would soon be going into Hadley Village.

"With the exception of the Hadley project and the three business centers in Flint, we try to get improvements finished by the time we open," Krakowiak said. "We just couldn't help the carpet replacement at Hadley this year. Instead, we try to work closely with students so they aren't really inconvenienced."

Krakowiak said improvements would continue as long as students are utilizing on-campus housing, and things are shaping up well.

"It's all just part of our mission to keep things fresh and appealing," he said.