Coming in as a freshman at Binghamton University, I did not put much thought into where I would choose to live on campus because I figured all the dorms would be fairly similar. I had one of the last time slots available to choose my housing, so my options were limited, but I wasn’t really worried about it. When I walked into Oneida Hall for the first time and discovered that it was the only building on campus that hadn’t been renovated, I was shocked. I was even more surprised to learn that I was paying the same rent as people living in the newly renovated buildings around me, and much less than the other living communities with much nicer dorms, private or suite bathrooms and air conditioning. The system of on-campus housing is not only unfair, but it is also implicitly classist.
Living in a double at Hinman College or in College-in-the-Woods, the two oldest communities on campus, costs $5,377 per semester. Living in Dickinson community or Newing College costs about $600 more per semester on average. These communities are only about 10 years old compared to the 60-year-old buildings of Hinman College and College-in-the-Woods and are significantly nicer. $600 extra per semester to live in greater luxury seems fair, but living on campus is already a high cost for the average student, so an extra $600 is a large, unnecessary expense, especially without knowing the differences between these communities. If you don’t like the place you end up, it is difficult to get moved into a nicer dorm, which can create issues for people who took out loans or did not account for the extra expense of living in a nicer community when they arrived. Since loan disbursements would typically be paid out before someone decided to change their room, the money a student receives for housing may not cover the price of their new dorm.
While I understand that it is impossible to make the dorms completely equal, it isn’t really fair to students to have such different conditions between buildings on campus because of the larger impact this has on students’ well-being. Living in a dorm is already a stressful experience — privacy is nearly impossible, and living in such a small place can become overwhelming (3). However, these stressors are reduced when the dorms are nice and comfortable. In my experience, being in my dorm does not help to alleviate any of the stress I develop throughout the day — frankly, it tends to worsen when I get back to my room, especially because I have to use a communal bathroom where I can’t even shower without someone else being there. One of my friends who moved from Oneida Hall to the Dickinson Community this semester told me that her entire perspective on college and mood overall have changed drastically since the fall. She credits a lot of this to a change in her living environment. Most of the people I talk to in my building complain about our living conditions, and all agree that it is unfair that we are paying the same amount to live in worse conditions. It doesn’t make sense to subject some students to these stressors more than others, especially when you consider the price difference between these communities.
This is a problem outside of BU. At the University of the South, all students pay the same room and board cost, whether they live in a newly renovated dorm or one of the “run-down” buildings with no AC. Many students there feel their dorms are unbearable and wonder why the school invests in new buildings instead of renovating the old ones. The same argument can be applied to BU — renovating the old buildings to match the new ones should take priority over expanding housing. The largest expense students have to pay is housing, which means the most profit for the school comes from there — and many students are suffering because of the school’s desire to expand and admit as many students as possible. Evidently, Oneida Hall was supposed to be renovated next year, but renovations have been pushed back to ensure more freshman housing.
Being able to save over $1,000 a year can make a big difference for students and their families, but students shouldn’t have to compromise their comfort just to afford to live on campus. It’s easy to say that the dorm you live in is pure luck based on a randomly assigned housing slot, but we can’t ignore how the price difference impacts where people choose to live. With the current housing system, you have to pay a premium for comfort, and this is not a premium everyone can afford. BU needs to ensure students have comfortable places to live so they have a place to relax and unwind. The school must update the older dorms to meet the quality of the newer ones and ensure the prices of all are equal.
Antonia Kladias is an undeclared freshman.