Some ISU students have recently accepted a cash incentive from the Department of Residence to move from the residence halls into on-campus apartments.

Ninety-six nonfreshman students have accepted a $1,000 incentive to move into university operated apartments: Frederiksen Court, Schilleter and University Village, Legacy Towers, and Maricopa. This incentive was offered after Department of Residence members saw they were 100 beds short for the Fall 2013 semester in the residence halls.

“Originally to some people, it looked like we were paying students to leave but this is not true,” said Peter Englin, director of the Department of Residence. “We are just relocating them; people were reacting to the headlines, not the facts.”

The department at the end of May sent out an email to the 1,800 returnees to the residence halls asking if they would like to move to an on-campus apartment; there was no response to the email. Another similar email was sent out to the same students with the same result. The DOR then offered a $500 incentive to these 1,800 students which yielded 31 takers.

On the fourth try, the DOR offered students a $1,000 incentive; 65 more students accepted the incentive after the offer was increased. For the original 31 takers, their incentive was raised from $500 to $1,000 following the DOR’s increase.

“It’s a good news, bad news story,” said Tom Hill, senior vice president for Student Affairs. “There’s respect, concern and care for our students in our on-campus living. We don’t want to kick students to the curb.”

Currently, the DOR has reported they have 11,300 contracts, a record number, and are at capacity but over the permanent facility capacity. The DOR has 7,459 students living in the residence halls and 3,850 living in campus apartments. The university has leased room for 503 beds from Legacy Towers and Maricopa apartments to help support the growing number.

“We were surprised at how we had an increase [of 7.2 percent] in returners from last year; more people want to stay here,” Englin said. “This is a huge compliment to us: Students are choosing to stay on campus in larger numbers.”

Englin pointed out that part of the DOR’s incentive was to make sure there was room for the incoming freshman class in the residence halls. He also said having the freshman in the residence halls is crucial to their experience at Iowa State and that living in them is more beneficial to the students than living in apartments their first year.

The idea of building new facilities on campus has been thrown around as a possible solution for the growing number of students living in on-campus housing, but the future, some say, is not predictable yet at this point.

“We would have to perform a balancing act,” Hill said. “What if we had a drop in enrollment? We do not want those excess buildings sitting empty. Our decisions aren’t meant for the immediate time, we have to look more long term.”

Englin said the university is looking into the possibility of building new beds in the future but have to question whether they will cash flow. Englin sees an increase in off-campus apartments as a much needed option to help support the student growth.

“We may not have the solution today, but we will find a way to help students succeed,” Englin said. “Everybody is working on this from all angles.”