Kent State University’s Allerton Family housing to close down.

If you are a parent and student here at Kent State University you might have to think twice about where your family is going to live because Allerton family housing will be closing down by the end of the semester.

My beat is about on campus student housing in KSU. I had the opportunity to talk to Jill Church who is the Director of Residence Services who has been working in residence services for 15 years and she told me a few things will be happening in future for on-campus housing in KSU. She talked the fact that the only family housing KSU has will be closing down by the end of the semester because it cannot be easily renovated and it is not cost effective. We also discussed the steps taken for students to apply for on-campus housing.

There is a 2 year requirement for students who just enrolled in the University to apply for student housing, but if you live within 50 miles off campus or married with kids you wont be required to live on campus. There is also a 25 dollar application fee required.

There are currently 6,336 students enrolled in student housing and there are 144 Resident Assistant hat is a total of 6,480 students besides Allerton apartment. There are a few challenges students face living on campus such as the cost of living on campus. Church also says it could cost less to live on campus without the addition of a car, fuel and maintenance of the car.

The advantages of living on campus outweighs the disadvantages due to the fact that students get to interact with different people from different countries and make use of the amenities like tutoring. Students do not have to worry about parking since classes are close to the dorms.

Church says there will be a few renovations happening by the end of the semester in a few residence halls like Prentice, Dubar, Beall and McDowell. Prentice will be getting an upgrade with air-conditions and carpet while Dunbar will be upgraded with just carpet. Beall and McDowell will be upgraded with microwaves and fridges.

There were a few potential stories Church talked about like the renovations that will take place in the dorms. She also talked about the university building residence halls for international students and the Studies of Global Education will move from Van Campen hall to the new building. Allerton will be closing down by the end of this semester and building a Greek housing closer to campus.