Low residential enrollment leaves several floors empty in Gorham

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Chelsea Ellis | The Free Press
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Posted on September 12, 2011 in News
By Noah Hurowitz

Low enrollment of residential students has left entire floors empty in Upton Hastings, Robie Andrews and Dickey-Wood halls. According to Assistant Director of Public Affairs Judy O’malley, the university has not had to close entire floors or residence halls since the early 1990s.

According to Cristi Carson, director of institutional research and assessment at USM, residential enrollment has been in decline in recent years. Carson said the university does not yet have the official census numbers for the fall semester, but as of the end of the first week of classes, there were just over 1,000 students living on campus, falling short of a fall occupancy goal of 1,275.

With a capacity for 1,543 residential students, nearly one third of the beds in Gorham are empty this semester.

According to Director of Public Affairs Bob Caswell, the recession has played a part in what he called a downward trend in residential enrollment. “Anecdotal evidence suggests students are living off campus more because of financial restraints,” he said.

Sophomore Sam Ellis said money affected his decision to move off-campus. Ellis said he initially planned on living in an apartment in Upperclass Hall, which would have cost him over $1,000 a month for just eight months. An apartment in Gorham with friends is costing Ellis just $325 a month, with a year-long lease. But Ellis also said he moved off campus for social reasons.”I didn’t really like dorm life,” he said. “Getting off campus is a lot more enjoyable.”

Additionally Ellis said he is saving money by buying his own food instead of being on the meal plan he would have had on campus. “I guess I’ll just have to learn how to cook,” he said.

The cost of living, per semester, in a residential hall in Gorham ranges from $2,489 to $4,075. The cheapest option — a double bedroom in Robie Andrews Hall — adds up to about $829 a month, which is well above what one could expect to pay for a shared apartment in Gorham or Portland.

The most expensive option, an apartment in Upperclass Hall with 4 single bedrooms comes to an approximate monthly total of $1,358. A quick search of apartment rental listings on Craigslist turned up nothing nearly as expensive, the closest being a luxury 3-bedroom townhouse that, split three ways, would come to $1,000 a month. A sample of 25 two bedroom apartment rentals in the Portland yielded a rough average of $1,064 per apartment, or $532 per person per month.

Director of Residential Life Denise Nelson said that while lower residential enrollment generally means lower enrollment overall and reduced tuition revenue, a decrease in residential fees does not represent a sharp loss in revenue for USM as a whole. “Residential life has to be self-supporting, so the money that comes from residential students is applied back to residential students,” she said. “The university is going to be concerned by lower numbers anywhere, whether it’s residential students, commuter students or non-traditional students. But the money that students pay to stay in the residential halls doesn’t subsidize their tuition.”

Caswell said the university is working on how to address the shortage of residential students in two ways: In the short term, officials are working on strategies to minimize the impact of having multiple floors in multiple residence halls empty. In the long term, Caswell said USM will look at how to retain current residential students and attract more in the future. “There are no plans to permanently close or mothball entire residence halls,” he said. “The more important question is, what are we going to do to address this issue?”

According to Caswell, USM is considering employing targeted surveys to find out what would attract new students to live on campus, and expanding learning communities — such as the Russell Scholar program — in the dorms.

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  • Goforchristinam

    A solution to the lower numbers would be to utilize the students in Greek Life. As most organizations use the Gorham Campus for most of there events or related activities. Have an entire floor rented out by one sorority or fraternity. Usually, on most campuses, it does cost a little more to live in the organizations house. They would still have to follow the same rules and conduct as non-Greek Life students.

    As Gorham is prejudice against those in Greek Life it offers a solution to everyone’s problem: Greeks get housing, USM gets paid and control over those Greeks, and Gorham doesn’t have to worry about their discriminatory laws.

  • Kyle Cronin

    Wow, this is quite a waste, and I hope this acts as a wakeup call for the University. There are several reasons why I considered, but rejected, living on campus:

    1) Money. This is the big one – if the price was right I’d definitely live on campus, but it would have to be a LOT lower than they’re currently trying to charge. I’m paying $500/month at Bayside Village for one room in a four-bedroom suite and parking. I’m not sure what I spend on food, but it’s MUCH less than any of the meal plans that are required for living on campus.

    2) Gorham is too far. Perhaps I’m just fortunate, but I’m starting my second year here at USM and I’ve never had to take a class in Gorham. Conversely, since the department for my major is in Portland, I would have to travel to Portland to take at least some of my classes. And every time I drive to Gorham I’m always amazed at how long it takes me to get there – I usually get past Westbrook and think “can’t be much farther now”. Living at Bayside Village I’m able to walk from my apartment to campus in 10-15 minutes. According to Google Maps, walking from the Gorham campus to the Portland campus would take 3 hours.

    3) Restrictions. Living on campus means that there are certain restrictions on what you’re allowed to have and what you’re allowed to do. Internet connections, for example, are routinely monitored by the IT department.

    Don’t get me wrong, living on campus has its upsides – being able to live among the same people you go to classes with, common bonding experiences, etc. However, it just hasn’t been economical or practical enough for me to seriously consider. If USM had housing in Portland I’d probably be willing to pay a little more than I am at Bayside ($600/month, maybe $800/month if it included the meal plan) for the same sort of room setup, but no more.

  • Frederick Malloy

    To be honest, this is a great opportunity to tap into Greek Life. I think somewhere around 70% of students associated as a member of the Greek Community stay at their home University and finish out their degree there. Why not take advantage of this?

    Although this is pretty difficult considering the average rent in a Fraternity house is $450 a month and includes everything…

  • Vanessa

    The price just isn’t right.. Last year, my boyfriend and I shared a dorm room (yes, just one room) in Philippi and it cost us approx. $1200 EACH per month. This price includes the meal plan that USM requires all residential students to purchase, the cheapest of which is $2,100/ semester (or approx. $500/month!!) .. but we barely ate on campus and ended up spending anywhere from $40-60 on groceries each week. So we paid $500/month for nasty Aramark food that we hardly ever ate. Plus, we both commuted to Portland every single day for class. Now, we live in a very nice one bedroom apartment in SoPo, where we have our own kitchen, living room, and BATHROOM, for approx. $1100 total per month, including all of our bills and food. We live in a space twice as big, twice as nice, and twice as convenient for half the price! Plus, most of the dorms on campus aren’t nice! There are basically two nice dorms on campus, New Hall and Philippi. New Hall is not even close to affordable, and while Philippi is definitely more affordable, an apartment is still cheaper. The other dorm buildings are just gross.. I mean, Upton Hastings is a drunken jock fest, where the pipes are actually outside the walls. They need to consider some kind of renovation in order for anyone to pay that much to live in those dorms. I love USM, but the residential life is not where it’s at.