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FAQ: Before I Apply
General
Q: What is the purpose of Residence Life?
A: The department of Residence Life and Housing strives to provide safe, well-maintained, and affordable housing for students at Indiana University Southeast. Our residence halls are more than a place to sleep. Instead, they are vibrant and exciting communities where students learn, grow, and develop their potential. Students make friends, develop conflict resolution skills, expand leadership skills, and learn to better understand others. National research shows that students who choose to live in residence halls are more likely to earn better grades and are more likely to graduate than their counterparts who live off campus.
Q: What is the benefit of living on campus?
A: The residence hall system fosters the overall growth and development of students. We contribute to the campus community through providing exciting programming and leadership opportunities that challenge students to exceed their own expectations. Residence halls provide students the best and fastest way to meet other people. Many residents get to know each other by interacting with roommates, others on the floor, in the dining room, and in-hall study groups.
The residence hall staff creates experiences that foster academic and personal development. Numerous programs and services are in place to support students academically and socially. In addition, the staff provides a variety of opportunities to connect with fellow students, faculty, and staff from across campus. The residence halls increase a student’s ability to interact with members of different cultures and backgrounds – an essential element for success in today’s global market.
Q: Why is IU Southeast building residence halls?
A: IU Southeast has pursued a residence hall program for nearly two decades. Various factors resulted in past attempts being unsuccessful. But, in recent years, greater interest from students led to the push to build residence halls. Feasibility studies conducted by outside agencies confirmed that students overwhelmingly wanted to have the whole campus experience.
Q: What are residence halls?
A: Residence halls are residential buildings that cater to students’ needs for growth and development. The residential experience contributes to students overall growth and development in college and significantly affects a student’s success.
Q: How do residence halls affect student success?
A: Students who live on campus tend to spend more time studying, earn better grades, and are more likely to graduate than students who live off-campus or commute from their parents’ home. Similarly, students who live on campus are also exposed to greater degrees of peer and faculty interaction which influences creative abilities, critical thinking, an appreciation for diverse perspectives, and advanced problem solving skills.
Q: How can I keep up with news on student housing?
A: The new housing Web site will be updated periodically with new information, photos of construction progress, and other materials that will be useful for students and their families. A newsletter will also be sent electronically to anyone interested. Sign up to receive the housing e-newsletter.
Rates
Q: How much does it cost to live on campus?
A: The housing rates will depend upon the apartment to which the student is assigned. The rates include high-speed Internet in each bedroom and the living room of each apartment and wireless access throughout the building. Cable television and all utilities are also included. Besides including all the bills in one convenient payment, the cost also gives students access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Housing rates are listed on the Rates & Floor Plans page.
Construction
Q: When will the residence halls be open?
A: The five lodge-style residence halls are scheduled to open for the fall 2008 semester.
Q: Where will residents park?
A: New parking lots will be constructed adjacent to both the north and south clusters of residence halls. Residents will also be able to park in the existing parking lots. Residents, faculty, staff, and students will continue to park where spaces are available on a first come, first served basis. The new lots will not be for residential students only.
Q: Where did the funding come from to build the residence halls?
A: The State of Indiana approved revenue bond funding. This means that bonds were sold to finance the construction of the residence halls. These bonds will be repaid through revenues generated from the halls. The entire Residence Life and Housing operation (staffing, furniture replacement, supplies, and programs) will be self-sustaining from students’ rental fees. Tuition and other fees will not be used to support the residential program. IU Southeast also pursues grant funding opportunities and gifts to support the expansion of programs and services for residential students.
Q: Is there a model apartment I can look at?
A: The architecture and engineering firm of Luckett & Farley has developed virtual models that can be viewed at http://www.ius.edu/housing/toursArt.cfm. In addition, Shiel Sexton, the construction firm, will have two apartment types ready for tours in spring 2008. You can view a lodge floor plan at: http://www.ius.edu/housing/rates.cfm.
Q: How “green” is the IU Southeast residence hall construction project?
A: Indiana University Southeast and our partner contractors are pursuing every effort possible to minimize the environmental impact. Energy saving measures include the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs; high-efficiency heating and cooling systems; insulating qualities that exceed the standard; high-efficiency thermo-pane windows; and skylights in common space to take advantage of natural lighting. In addition, each apartment and bedroom has a large window to encourage students to turn off the lights and take advantage of natural light during daytime hours. The landscaping includes a bio-swale at the lower edge of the parking lots. The bio-swale consists of a wetland plant community with bulrushes which will remove the oils, salts, and other pollutants from the runoff watercoming from the parking lot before it enters the natural watershed.
Q: What about noise from the nearby railroad tracks?
A: The construction process includes sound absorbing materials and additional insulation in the walls and ceilings/flooring to absorb and trap sound. While this will not completely eliminate the transmission of noise, the practice will reduce it significantly. A fence and dense landscape plantings along the railroad tracks will also help to deflect and absorb noise from passing trains and mask the railroad tracks from view. The brick and cement fiber board siding on the exterior of the buildings and double-pane windows will also help to reduce noise from passing trains and traffic on and near campus.
Staffing
Q: What is the staffing structure of the Residence Life and Housing department?
A: Three full-time appointed positions will staff the Residence Life and Housing program.
The director of Residence Life and Housing has been working the past months on putting policies and procedures in place to have the halls ready for opening. He has also been meeting with various campus partners to develop programs and opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills.
The assistant director of Residence Life position will be filled in late 2007. The assistant director will live in one of the five residence halls. The assistant director’s responsibilities will include supervision of the community advisors, residence education, and programming and community development.
The offices services assistant senior position is to be filled in late spring 2008.
In addition, ten community advisors (CAs) will live in the residence halls. The CAs will focus on social and educational programming and serve as mentors and role models for other students. They are there to help students adjust to college and be successful. There will be one CA per floor.
Q: What does the residence hall staff do?
A: Residence hall staff members facilitate community in the halls. Community advisors (CAs) on each floor work to maintain a pleasant and positive atmosphere for study, recreation, and personal growth. CAs are sophomores or higher who undergo extensive training. They initiate hall activities, serve as informational resources and peer helpers, address roommate concerns, and assist in emergency situations. CAs should be the first person residents go to for questions, help, guidance, and involvement in hall activities.
Residence Life and Housing also has a director who is responsible for the overall program and operation of the residence halls and an assistant director responsible for residence education and leadership. Their responsibilities include:
- Supervising the student staff
- Developing programs to meet the needs of students
- Managing and administering the hall facilities
- Advising the hall council
- Overseeing and resolving student conduct issues
- Building community
- Helping students make the transition to college
In addition, community advisors have a lot of fun while learning valuable skills that make them more marketable for jobs after graduation. Experience as a community advisor can sometimes teach you more about yourself and other people than you ever thought you could learn. To learn more about becoming a community advisor, check back on our Web site or watch for CA recruitment materials.
Q: Where does the Office of Residence Life and Housing report organizationally?
A: The Office of Residence Life and Housing will be a new and separate unit reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
Q: Where is the Residence Life and Housing office located?
A: During 2007-08, the director of Residence Life and Housing will have a temporary office in University Center South, Room 188 (within the Career Services office). The phone number is (812) 941-2115. When the residence halls are completed the Residence Life and Housing staff will be located in the center lodge on the north side of the lake.
Policies
Q: Are any students required to live on campus?
A: No. IU Southeast does not have a policy that requires any group of students to live on campus.
Q: Who can live in the residence halls? Does the student's permanent residence have to be a certain distance from campus?
A: All housing applicants who meet IU Southeast admissions criteria will be considered for residence halls on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of the distance from their permanent residence. Housing is available for full-time and part-time students. Residents must be enrolled in classes to live in the residence halls.
Q: Are Purdue Statewide Technology students eligible to live on campus at IU Southeast?
A: Yes. Students enrolled in the Purdue University College of Technology at New Albany are eligible to live in the new residence halls. The same residence hall application and contract form will be used for all students.
Q: Will the halls be co-ed?
A: Yes. The halls will be co-ed. Each apartment will house four men or four women. There will be no co-ed apartments.
Q: Can married couples rent a room or an apartment?
A: No. The focus of these residence halls will be on traditional age, single, undergraduate students. The campus does not provide married student housing at this time. Local off-campus housing information for married students can be obtained at http://campuslife.ius.edu/pdf/housing.pdf.
Q: Is smoking allowed in the halls?
A: Indiana University Southeast is a tobacco-free campus. Thus, all residence halls and adjacent areas on campus are smoke-free.
Q: What is the alcohol policy for the lodges?
A: Alcohol will not be permitted in the apartments or lodges, regardless of age.
Q: What about security measures?
A: The residence halls have a state-of-the-art security system in place to promote the safety of our residents. Exterior doors will be locked 24 hours a day. As the U Card system is implemented, the student’s own unique student ID card will open the exterior doors. Individual keys will provide access to apartments and bedrooms. The halls will also have closed-circuit surveillance on the entrances to promote security. New emergency phones are located in the parking areas adjacent to the residence halls as Phase I of a nearly $1 million campus safety upgrade. In addition, University Police will maintain an active presence in the residence halls with crime prevention programming and personal safety classes and will assist students as necessary.
Safety is a shared responsibility, so students need to do their part by locking their door and reporting suspicious behavior. Students should be aware of their surroundings and use caution when walking on campus at night. University Police provides a campus escort service in the evening and overnight hours. We encourage computers to be password protected. If you have a laptop, an investment to consider is buying a security cable to attach and lock the computer to a personal furniture item like a bookcase. Laptop security cables cannot be attached to university furniture.
|Room and Apartment Assignments
Q: Do students have to have four individuals to reserve an apartment or will the university match roommates for them?
A: Students do not have to sign up together but they may. Room and apartment assignment details have not been finalized yet — but students do not have to have a group of four to apply. The application is for an individual, not a group.
Q: Can I request a roommate?
A: Yes. Students can request roommates and apartment mates. All parties must indicate a preference for each other on their housing application. It will make it easier if you and your roommates submit your applications together. If you need to change a requested roommate prior to assignment letters going out, contact Residence Life and Housing directly. Roommate requests are granted until all double rooms are full, and rooms are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
Q: How are assignments made?
A: Assignments will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Students who wish to reside in the same apartment are encouraged to submit their applications together. Students who do not have a roommate preference will be matched with other students based on a few questions on the application.
Q: Will apartments or sections of apartments be designated or held for athletes, honors students, international students, or other special interest groups?
A: We do not currently plan to hold spaces for particular groups. There are plans to work with academic departments to develop learning communities in which students taking a specific course sequence would also live together in adjacent areas of a residence hall. Similarly, there are options for special interest or theme housing as students express interest.
Please check the Web site again for future updates.
Q: What is the process to apply for on-campus housing?
A: Application materials and contracts are available online and from the Office of Residence Life and Housing and the Admissions Office. Please check the Web site again for future updates.
Q: How long is the housing contract period?
A: Contracts are available for the academic year and for a 12-month period beginning each August. Summer rates will be available for ‘Summer Only’ students. Students may also sign up for summer housing in the spring term.
Q: When are contracts due?
A: Contracts are accepted on a rolling basis, so there is no deadline for submitting a contract. Housing assignments are done on a first-come, first-served basis, so the earlier your application and signed contract are received, the more likely your chance of getting one of your preferences.
Q: What if I need to cancel my contract?
A: Students wishing to cancel their housing contract must do so in writing or in the Office of Residence Life and Housing. A cancellation fee may apply depending on when you cancel your contract and whether or not you are still attending IU Southeast.
Q: Where do most first-year students live?
A: First-year students will be allowed to live in all of the residence halls. First-year students primarily will be assigned to apartments where students share a bedroom with each other in order to promote an increased opportunity to get to know each other and develop early connections with other students.
