Starting next fall, students who have waited for a vacancy in East Campus Apartments semester after semester can try their luck in the new complex on the other side of campus.
West Campus Apartments, now under construction near Kirby-Smith Hall, will be open to students in fall 2003, said Mimi Lavalle, Residential Life communications manager.
“In our focus groups and surveys, students have said they want to live on campus in more contemporary style living,” she said.
Much like ECA, WCA will offer 502 students the convenience of living on campus with the privacy of their own bedroom.
“Everybody wants a little freedom,” said Richard Jones, a political science freshman. “[WCA] basically gives you the perks of an apartment and the perks of living on campus.”
WCA will offer all the same amenities as ECA, including private rooms, a washer and dryer for each unit, basic cable and furnished rooms.
WCA’s rent also will be the same as at ECA. Current rates are $2,527 a semester for an efficiency, $2,322 for a two-bedroom unit and $2,171 for a four-bedroom unit.
However, next year’s rates have not yet been approved, Lavalle said.
Vivian Acosta, an accounting junior and ECA resident, said WCA should not cost more than ECA just because it is new.
“You’re going to get the same benefits [as ECA],” Acosta said. “It’s not like ECA is that old.”
Despite WCA’s similarities to ECA, there will be some differences.
“The biggest difference will be [WCA] will have three bedroom, two bath units, which ECA does not have,” Lavalle said.
Lavalle also said while ECA has mostly four-bedroom units, WCA will have 41 two-bedroom units and as many three-bedroom units as four-bedroom units.
Nine units will be handicap-accessible to accommodate students with disabilities. However, if these rooms still are available next fall, Residential Life will make them available to students without disabilities, Lavalle said.
Despite WCA’s handicap-accessible units, some students still prefer ECA.
Benjamin Mabee, an interior design freshman, said he and a friend who has a disability plan to move into ECA instead of the new apartments.
“With the wheelchair, [WCA] is a long way from classes,” he said.
Daysi Espinal, an industrial engineering freshman and ECA resident, agreed WCA is too far.
“Everything is near ECA — my classes, the Union, everything,” she said. “[WCA] is too far to not have transportation.
Students currently living on campus will have priority for WCA during the spring reapplication process. Off-campus students will have to turn in an application with a $150 deposit to Residential Life.
Residential Life is planning to host an open house in the spring before the reapplication process to allow students to check out the new apartments.
Residential Life earlier reported the Athletic Department was interested in WCA because of its proximity to them. However, Espinal, a tennis player, said she has not heard anything like that from the Athletic Department.
Sean Sampson, a kinesiology junior and ECA resident, said he would rather not move to WCA, because he heard the athletes living in ECA would probably move there.
“They’re pretty loud,” Sampson said. “Maybe it’ll be a little quieter around here without them.”