New MSU residence hall on schedule Student feedback used to tweak room design It’s always tricky business trying to please the tastes of today’s college students.
Which is why the folks at Residential Life at Minnesota State University took an unusual approach when trying to decipher the dorm room wants and desires of today’s college coeds: They asked them.
And because they did, the new residence hall going up rather quickly where the rugby pitch used to be will have the styles of loft, desk and drawer the students said they wanted.
They also devised a handy tool to help ensure that, by the time students move in, everything will be exactly as MSU and the students want it.
It’s called a “model room,” and it was the idea of Residential Life Director Cindy Janney. She ordered its construction and then brought students through to have a look at exactly what the “semi-suites” in the new residence hall will look like.
“This is the first residence hall this campus has built in 40 years,” Janney said. “We wanted to get it right.”
Between the student feedback and the model room, Janney said she’s confident students will be pleased with Sears Hall.
“We’ve learned a lot,” Janney said. “We were looking at some features we thought they’d like, and then we come to find out they didn’t want that at all.”
Dan Elliot, assistant director of residential life for operations, said there were several specific changes made based on student feedback.
Example: Residential Life had proposed a style of drawers that came apart and were stackable. They figured students would appreciate the flexibility offered by stackable drawers. They figured wrong. Turns out most students are OK with just the basic drawers. Prefer them, actually.
Example: Once students toured the model room they informed residential life that the rooms were short on outlets. Residential life called the architects and additional outlets were added to the design.
Example: Desks came with pull-out keyboard trays. Students informed residential life that they almost exclusively use laptops, and a keyboard tray is useless.
The Sears residence hall will have 608 beds and will be open when students come back to school next fall. About 90 percent of the suites will be double rooms, meaning two people to a room. About 10 percent will be single rooms.
Students can request rooms in Sears Hall, but all room assignments will be put through a process based on seniority. Students assigned to Sears Hall will also pay more than students living in other residence halls.
Janney said rates for the new room, while not finalized yet, will probably be between 15 percent and 20 percent higher than the other residence halls.
Currently, a double room with a meal plan is about $5,350.
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