Underclassmen often count the semesters until they can move out of the dorms and into the more private, on-campus UB Apartments, which are earmarked for upperclassmen. The UB undergraduate apartments include Flint Village, Hadley Village, and Southlake Village.
Convenience:
South Lake Village is located just feet from Alumni Arena, while Hadley Village is closest to the west end of campus.
"South Lake Village is popular because of its convenience to Alumni (Arena) and the Center for the Arts," said Tom Tiberi, senior associate director of UB Apartments. "The main reason students stay on campus is to be near activity."
Despite the nearby flourish of activity and community buildings in each complex, some students feel the UB apartments lack in ambiance.
"It doesn't have the same social atmosphere as the dorms and everything is sort of separated," said Kayla Geelan, a sophomore math education major. "It doesn't seem like too many people interact."
Amenities:
UB apartments are furnished and boast a long list of amenities, including campus shuttles, cable, Internet, garbage disposals, and dishwashers. Nevertheless, Hadley and South Lake leave Flint Village in the dust in terms of amenities.
According to Tiberi, Flint's community building will be expanded on the backside, leaving room for a fitness center and bigger business center. These changes, however, are expected to take at least a year.
Although Flint's is the smallest, each complex has a business center with at least one computer and printer, as well as a printing allotment that is separate from the one students are given at campus libraries.
Snow and garbage removal are services that students often forget are not included off-campus, Tiberi said.
Washers and dryers in each individual apartments are not in the future for the three villages, as water and venting issues would make the process costly and as a result would then lead to rent increases, according to Tiberi.
On the other hand, landscape upgrades and increases in the amount of bike racks, benches, and wireless Internet throughout the apartments are plans that will affect the coming year.
Cost:
"Our biggest perk is our proximity to campus," Tiberi said. "Convenience has a price."
Jared Giesa, a senior business major, said he thought the convenience was well worth the price, but that he felt a little cheated when he considered the cost of renting off campus.
"The shuttles run relatively on time and I'm lucky enough to have an apartment with fairly new furniture so I suppose that's where the high cost comes from," Giesa said.
Customer Service & Maintenance:
While there is convenience in renting an already-furnished apartment, many students complain that the apartments aren't holding up their end of the deal, landing students with older carpets and furniture.
"The carpets really need to be replaced more often," Giesa said. "We have old furniture and it looks horrible."
Tiberi said that while the industry standard for replacing furniture and carpets was every seven years, South Lake Village would be making those changes a year early.
"Replacement will begin this school year and continue into the fall. We've started installing new stain resistant carpeting as well as tiles in the first three feet of the apartment so carpets will last longer," Tiberi said
Each complex has a dedicated maintenance, cleaning, and professional staff, Tiberi said.
"When you put in a work order, things are fixed promptly," Giesa said. "We never have to wait more than a few days for maintenance to come."
Safety:
Giesa said that he felt far safer on campus than in the Heights, though he worried that the swipe card system wasn't completely protective because many students prop doors open.
Tiberi marked building card access, intercoms, and three sets of locked doors (including bedroom doors), as safeguards for students.
"We have a police force dedicated to our campus whereas off campus, the City of Buffalo Police and Town of Amherst police have a lot more people and issues to deal with," Tiberi said. "There are a lot of eyes and ears to report suspicious behavior around [the UB apartments]."
