While enrollment continues to skyrocket, many speculations have been made concerning possible additions to the Cabrini Apartment Complex. Howard Holden, director of facilities, says no plans or drawings have been made for additional housing anywhere on campus at this time.
This year’s freshman class tipped the charts at 411. This is good news for the college budget but it causes much conflict when considering housing for all Cabrini residents, especially upperclassmen. Though the college needs to expand housing as a whole, “freshman housing is the concern as opposed to upperclassmen housing,” Holden said.
Senior Kit Dewey, resident of apartment 201, was one of the many students who heard the rumors of construction. “We were going to expand it on the side that is still the woods, add another corridor and possibly something out over the parking lot,” Dewey said. She was reluctant to believe anything but sees the idea of expansion as a “positive thing. I believe upper classmen housing to be an especially smart idea. As we accept larger classes, they will grow into larger junior and senior classes, so they will need more space. Also this will free up more space in old housing for the new freshmen.”
Current sophomore Maggie Kurtz sees how the change of the apartments may better benefit the campus and her class, as she will be able to live in the CAC as a senior. “If they add now everyone would be happy with housing. It would decrease the overflow of underclassmen dorms.”
Further speculations have been made concerning underclassmen dorms in which singles would be doubles, doubled would be tripled and, in some cases, triples would be quadrupled.
Woodcrest, which currently houses female freshmen, was made into a completely tripled dorm this year due to the enrollment increase.
Kurtz heard rumors that suggested that some houses would be knocked down in order to build a dorm, which resembled that of the New Residence Hall. Holden admitted to having several verbal plans of future reconstruction but there is nothing drawn up at this point.
Junior Saleem Brown of apartment 307 had not heard any rumors of construction but once presented with the idea said, “There are positives and negatives to the situation. More space is good but bringing in more housing may lead to more problems.”
Both Brown and Kurtz admitted to knowing students who chose not to attend Cabrini due to the housing problems. While additions to campus housing may be only speculations now, increasing enrollment may force the campus to take more serious and rapid action in being able to accommodate its residents comfortably in the future.
