Purdue News

August 2000 Purdue addresses off-campus student housing Kenneth P. Burns Every university town faces the issue of off-campus housing for students. To save transportation expenses and time, students' first choices often are the neighborhoods closest to campus. This can create congestion and overcrowding in those neighborhoods. It also brings the potential for conflict, because students' lifestyles are often at odds with those of long-term residents who choose to live around them. On the other hand, students bring many benefits to the community, including economic ones for property owners and local businesses. It's a complex issue. Annually, about 65 percent of Purdue University students choose not to live on campus or in sororities, fraternities and co-operative housing. Instead, their first preference is the Chauncey and Centennial neighborhoods, both within walking distance to campus. Even if Purdue enrolled fewer students, the demand for housing in those areas would not change. Students living in outlying areas will move closer to campus because they perceive that to be in their best interest. At the same time, any student living further away from campus will want to have a car for transportation. If off-campus students drive that car to and from campus, they add to traffic and parking congestion. Any solution to the student housing issue must take into consideration these elements of human nature. Faced with these realities, Purdue and the cities of Greater Lafayette have taken several steps to ameliorate the problem. • Purdue met with private developers to consider partnering with them to build apartments. At the same time, Purdue surveyed local developers to gauge what apartments were being planned. It has always been Purdue policy to avoid competing with the local private economy whenever possible. What we learned was that more than enough apartments were about to open in areas throughout the community to accommodate the Purdue off-campus population. Realizing that the demand was being met and that university involvement would produce unfair competition with local developers, the university then postponed consideration of a public-private partnership for apartments. • To encourage students to live further away from campus – thus reducing the housing and traffic congestion in the Chauncey and Centennial neighborhoods – the university worked with the cities to provide free bus transportation for Purdue students, faculty, staff and retirees. This effort appears to be paying off. In the six months that ended in June, bus ridership had increased overall by 65 percent. • Purdue's Office of the Dean of Students maintains a list of available off-campus student housing to help link students with available apartments. • The City of West Lafayette also has addressed the issue in many ways, especially with ordinances that restrict the number people who can live in an apartment. Since the 1970s, West Lafayette also has had a very aggressive housing inspection program to make sure that landlords maintain their property. Having said this, it is also true that the university enrolled more students last fall than at any time in its history. Even though Purdue does no advertising, students are seeking us out in unprecedented numbers. Being a state-assisted university, we have always operated under the mantra of admitting as many qualified state applicants as possible, given the classroom space and resources available. Faced with increased demand again this year, the university for the first time closed enrollment in April for first-time students wanting to take classes on the West Lafayette campus. Purdue will continue keeping a close eye on trends to best manage its enrollment and to minimize surprises, both for the campus and the community. Purdue will continue to look for ways to be a good neighbor to Greater Lafayette. Kenneth P. Burns is executive vice president and treasurer of Purdue University To the Purdue News and Photos Page