As the 2021-2022 academic year comes to a close, Edward Gay residents express concerns as they attempt to find new housing solutions for when the apartments close in June 2023.
Aswathy Anakkathil Pradeep, a Ph.D. student at the LSU Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has lived in Edward Gay since January 2020 and hasn’t started looking for new housing in hopes the university will provide alternate accommodations.
When she received the email from Residential Life about the closure, she asked if there would be any alternate housing accommodations and received a reply saying that there will be no alternate accommodations and a list of off-campus apartments.
Pradeep said that LSU offered Nicholson Gateway Apartments single bedrooms, but most of the residents at Edward Gay are families with three or more people and a one-bedroom apartment cannot accommodate that.
“LSU is not helping me to find alternate on-campus housing that compares to the price of Edward Gay which is delaying my process for finding new housing,” Pradeep said. “I don’t think LSU is doing justice to international graduate students by closing LSU and especially by not providing alternate similar priced housing on campus.”
Pradeep said she will miss the close proximity of Edward Gay to LSU’s campus.
“My department is just a 15-minute walk from Edward Gay which makes it so easy for me to stay very late in my department and work on my Ph.D.,” Pradeep said. “I know that LSU provides campus transit for various parts of campus, but the transits are not reliable at times.”
Pradeep said the closure also adds more stress as she works toward her doctorate.
“Being at the final stage of my Ph.D., and having to shift all my items and move to a new place when I should be focusing on my research, is stressful,” Pradeep said.
Pradeep also said she will miss Edward Gay apartments because of its safety as an on-campus residence, the international student community, and the affordable housing for international students, especially those who don’t have any other income besides the stipend from LSU.
Pradeep said that each department of LSU has its own stipend to give out to graduate students and her department gives out $1,441 for nine months.
Pradeep said every semester, students have to pay additional fees, including health insurance, that amount to $3,000. Students are allowed to opt-out of health insurance which allows them to have enough money for housing and other needs.
Since Pradeep is an international student, she is only allowed to work 20 hours a week according to her visa. If she violates that workweek or works off-campus, she could be deported.
Pradeep and other Edward Gay residents created a petition for residents of the apartments to sign and it currently has 66 signatures.
“I have had the opportunity to speak with residents, most of them as families, and they were very disappointed,” Pradeep said. “One of the residents has no other affordable option for his family other than Edward Gay. The 66 people that I have spoken to are really concerned and haven’t spoken back to LSU Residential Life because they are scared to speak back.”
Kwaku Nyantakyi, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has been living in Edward Gay Apartments for a year and a half. He said that he was devastated to find out that the apartments would be closing after the 2022-2023 school year.
He will also miss Edward Gay because of its proximity to the campus departments and security for international students.
He also said that there has been no communication about what residents should do to find housing.
“LSU hasn’t stretched a helping hand or talked about the issue yet,” Nyantakyi said.
Jonathan Yevuyibor, a master’s student at LSU, has also had a difficult experience searching for new apartments because of Edward Gay’s affordability and close proximity to campus compared to other housing options.
“It is just a 15-minute walk from my office,” Yevuyibor said. “I can obtain a ride from Campus Transit at night. Thus, I spend a long time in my office.”
Yevuyibor will miss Edward Gay for several reasons: safety, proximity to school, affordability, campus transit at night, playground for children and interaction with families of other international students.
“I am hoping LSU will provide alternate housing for us,” Yevuyibor said. “Unfortunately, LSU has not been helpful in any way. It appears we are charting our own individual paths.”