Bumper crop of students to be housed in city apartments

Nearly 300 BGSU upperclassmen will enjoy the amenities of apartment living with many of the benefits of residence hall life this academic year when they move into off-campus apartments leased by the University.

Bowling Green was pleased but challenged earlier this summer to find itself with more students than on-campus residences for the upcoming academic year. In response to the unusually high demand for housing, BGSU has leased apartments from Greenbriar Inc. close to the University on Thurstin Avenue, North Enterprise Street and East Merry Avenue.

By placing more than 200 current students in apartments close to campus, the University has been able to free up space in on-campus residences for new, incoming students. The staff of the Office of Residence Life will be working with students living in the University-sponsored apartments and connecting them to the residential community.

Only returning students with at least 25 credit hours were invited to apply to live in the apartments, according to residence life staff. Those housed off campus will be subject to all the same rules and policies that apply in residence halls. Resident advisers have been assigned to the buildings, and the campus police will work with Bowling Green city police to provide safety and security. Other amenities typical of residence halls will be included, such as cable television, utilities and high-speed Internet access. However, the students housed in the apartments will not have access to residential computing labs and will not pay the usual technology fee.

Arranging for the temporary housing was a huge undertaking for campus staff. Headed by Linda Newman, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of residence life and dining services, staff from residence life, marketing and communications, campus safety, transportation, facilities services, parking and traffic, Information Technology Services, the bursar’s office and many others worked together to organize the effort.

A committee chaired by Jill Carr, associate dean of students, continues to coordinate the efforts of campus offices to ensure that personnel, safety, maintenance, technology, parking, move-in and future campus communications are provided at the same standards as in on-campus residences.

The University will wait to see if the 9 percent increase in freshmen registering this year and the high number of upperclassmen requesting on-campus housing holds steady before deciding what to do in the future, said Kimberly McBroom, associate vice president for University advancement and director of marketing and communications.