A look into popular options for student housing

Below is an accumulation of aspects that student's should consider when choosing their housing.

Maintenance

Savanna Maue and Rachel Weatherford ~ Online Editor and Managing Editor

When deciding whether to stay on campus or move off campus, students should consider damage and maintenance fees at the place they are living.

Students living on campus are not charged for maintenance as long as it is damage students are not responsible for causing.

For instance, there is a problem with the window. If the problem with the window is a problem with the seal or something that simply happens over time, members of Facilities Management come in and fix it. If the window is broken because of a student throwing a baseball through the window, for example, that leads to a student or common area damage fee.

"We don't have any maintenance fees included in the room rate," said Kim Fees, the assistant director for facilities and operations for Residence Life. "What we do have, though, are common area damage fees. You have your regular maintenance, which gets done throughout the year, and that's part of the housing portion. It's those damages that are beyond that, damages that get created by the student, that actually get tacked on at the end of the year."

Common area damages are damages that happen to the floor where residents live, and are caused by a student or students' action. If something like a window is broken in the lounge, Residence Life works hard to figure out who broke the window. If it can't figure out who broke the window, then all the students are charged a group fee.

A few of the popular housing options in Cape Girardeau. Photos by Drew Yount.

"The Residence Life staff works very closely with everybody on the floor to try and identify that single individual or those individuals that create the damage so that way we don't have to charge everybody," Fees said. "We expect individuals to accept responsibility for the damage that they cause, so when those people don't come forward, or other people in the community don't turn those in that created the damage even though they know who did it, they can't give us any leads, that's when everyone in the community does get charged for the damage. Now the charge is split amongst everybody equally. For example, if the charge is $100 and there's 20 people in the community, everybody receives a $5 charge. But, then again, that's a last resort."

Cape Trails, an apartment complex in Cape Girardeau, has 24-hour maintenance. There is regular maintenance from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emergency maintenance assistance is available at other times for serious issues, like a light socket smoking or flooding that could damage other rooms.

In Cape Trails, residents are charged if they break something that wasn't caused by wear and tear, such as a glass microwave plate, but if a dishwasher floods the resident would not be held accountable.

Fees for maintenance and damages will vary depending on where a student lives. Students who are seeking on campus and off campus housing should ask questions before making a decision. Questions can include specific examples, ask about what is included in damage and maintenance fees, ask the average cost of maintenance fees and when those fees would be due.

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Security

Hannah Parent ~ Staff Writer

Safety and security are huge factors in deciding where students will stay during the semester. The decision to live on or off campus isn't always simple. Southeast Missouri State University residence halls and local apartment complexes where students live take different measures to ensure the safety and security of their tenants.

Dearmont Hall resident assistant Mary O'Connell said that most breaches in security at Dearmont involve the smuggling in of marijuana and that all RAs on duty are told to immediately call DPS if they smell marijuana.

Southeast DPS Official Kenton Martin was assaulted by a non student who was in a dorm room at Dearmont on Feb. 19. Manik Rashid Webber Young, 19, of St. Louis, was subsequently charged with second degree assault of a law enforcement officer and a misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Though this incident is not common, a support system of resident assistants, hall directors and the availability of DPS is made available to diffuse situations like this. DPS and Martin were contacted about the incident but did not respond.

According to Clery crime statistics available in DPS public records, five sexual offences, four burglaries, one case of arson, seven liquor law violations and seven drug-related violations were reported in Southeast residence halls in 2011.

In addition to currently being an RA at Dearmont, O'Connell worked as one in Towers North last year. She said that last year there were issues with vandalism and at one point a bulletin board was set on fire.

"The worst problem we have at Dearmont is pot and people smoking pot," O' Connell said. "I have gotten good at doing pot busts."

O'Connell said at both Towers North and Dearmont there are always two RAs on duty every night, and that most security problems are internal or related to drugs and alcohol. O'Connell said at Dearmont, RAs are required to carry a duty phone that students can call if they see something illegal or unsafe going on and both Dearmont and Towers have 24-hour help desks available for students in case of emergency and students are supposed to register guests at these desks.

"We try to keep the main doors locked, and try not to prop our wing door," O'Connell said. "We encourage residents to open their doors on the floors, but we try not to prop the wing doors because its easier to get in and out of."

According to O'Connell, internal conflicts are another occurrence that happens more often than unwanted people in the residence halls. O'Connell said that conflicts at Dearmont escalate faster than those she dealt with at Towers North. For instance, she had a recent experience where two students were about to fight over one not removing the lint from the dryer. She said similar conflicts that build over weeks at Towers often culminate in two hours at Dearmont.

Residence Life Facilities director Kim Fees that there are a number of things that Residence Life does to promote safety at Residence Halls. He said that he encourages all staff to quickly report any abnormal occurrences to DPS and there are always residence assistants and hall directors available in the dorms for student support.

"It's sort of a joint effort," Fees said. "Our staff goes through to maintain the security but sort of need to understand and realize that we give out keys for a reason. That is to maintain security. The halls are safe for many reasons, but we want students to appreciate that as well. We want them to help us maintain the security of the building."

According to Fees, Residence Life also funded the newly installed satellite DPS station in Towers, to make sure that Towers has more protection. Fees also said that red phones that immediately dial out to DPS have been installed in all residence halls and that the campus, both inside and outside of buildings, is well lit. Fees said that RAs are required to post six room hours, so that students can feel free to voice their concerns. Room hours are times allotted for students to express their concerns to the residence assistant on their floor.

Fees said that in 2008, to ensure more safety, high security key cores were created to make it harder for students to make copies of their keys.

"Residence halls are as safe as students allow them to be," Fees said. "Let me explain that, basically we have resident assistants on duty in addition the hall directors on duty each night. That starts at 5 p.m. and goes through 8 p.m. They are doing the rounds through the building. They are looking for doors that have been propped open. But on the same token, we have students that all they want is to prop the door open."

Many students who choose to live off campus go to apartment complexes that are directed toward the college crowd like Collegewood Apartments and Cape Trails Apartments, both located on Sprigg Street near campus.

Off campus apartments do not have a the safety net of resident assistants and hall directors or having campus police on site, but many complexes try to keep safety in mind by taking certain precautions.

Jody Geiser, owner and building manager of Collegewood Apartments, said that he recalls only one incident where a car was broken into about eight years ago and that she feels that the gated apartment complex is fairly safe because all 60 apartments face each other and are well lit so there is no place to hide.

"Our complex is well lit and within walking distance from campus," Geiser said. "I think the closeness to campus is helpful for safety. The Southeast shuttle bus station is close. We require residents to have car tags, so we know who is on our property at all times. We have steel doors and encourage our tenants to be aware of their surroundings."

Manager of Cape Trails Linda Henson said that the complex has a courtesy police officer on site 40 hours a week. She said that the complex is well lit and tenants are encouraged to tell management if anything unusual happens.

Henson said that she tries to keep Cape Trails as safe as she can but of course she knows that she and tenants must be aware that things can happen.

"Even if you live on campus, that does not make you more or less safe than living off campus," Henson said. "Crime can occur wherever you are at. You just have to be aware of that."

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Expenses

James Devon Jones ~ Arrow Reporter

Students that are considering renting off-campus housing may discover that there are significant differences between the costs of living on campus and the costs of renting off campus.

Unlike apartments, Southeast Missouri State University allows students to pay one payment that covers most students' costs. With apartments, the costs often occur in the form of many bills that students need to track. The costs included in Southeast billing cover a multitude of provisions: laundry service, cable services, mail, telephone service, utilities, shuttle transportation, and internet. Not all of these services are provided by landlords, and students who rent off-campus apartments may have to go to a third party for additional services and additional billing.

Hetzel Properties specializes in renting apartments and houses in Cape Girardeau to Southeast students. According to Laura Sizemore, an employee and representative of Hetzel Properties, charges for renting one of its properties include utilities and the use of the property. Internet may be included, but it depends upon which of the properties is rented. Students still have to pay for groceries, transportation to campus and some of the other services that Southeast provides.

Students may not realize that a meal plan and the use of the recreation facilities is optional, but it would be far less convenient to live off campus and maintain regular use of these provisions. This would also increase the need for transportation between the students' living space and the campus, and that may inflate transportation costs.

Dr. Bruce Skinner, assistant vice president for Student Success and director of Residence Life, has worked with students that have faced challenges regarding confronting differences in housing costs for living in off-campus apartments. Skinner spoke about the significant factors of renting off-campus housing that his experiences tell him students tend to forget. He pointed out that students living on campus only pay for the housing that students use while school is in session.

"People forget that in many cases they are committing to a 12-month lease," Skinner said. "People sign 12-month leases thinking someone will take over their lease for the summer or they will be able to break their lease and then when this does not happen they are stuck with three months of rent and utilities for a space they never planned to use."

Skinner said that he has encountered students that faced difficulty with transferring colleges with a lease that has six months left to be paid. Skinner also said that people forget to consider utilities and transportation costs and that internet and cable TV can be easily overlooked.

Some students do not realize that off-campus apartments come with additional requirements and responsibilities when it comes to handling costs. Sizemore said that Hetzel Properties requires a security deposit that is equal to an installment of rent. Depending upon which property is rented, rent comes out to about $400 per student once per month.

On the reverse, there are some costs to living on campus that are not attributable to off-campus apartments. According to Skinner, there is an RHA fee that amounts to $30 per year. Students that live off campus also do not have to pay extra for housing during any break from schooling. Students that do stay in on-campus housing must pay an extra $20 per night.