I never thought it could happen, but I was wrong. It took all of last semester, but I can finally refer to my dorm room as home. The idea actually disturbed my mother a little bit. I was packing up my clothes after doing laundry and told her I was going home. My mom looked at me and said, “You mean back to your dorm room.” I simply nodded to her. But it hit me then, I have a home away from home.

My dorm room is great. We have a couch, nice carpet, all kinds of mood lighting and of course the very necessary hot boy wall. The best thing, though, is my loft. This allows my roommate and me to have all these wonderful things that make our room a cozy living space. It is a freestanding, hanging double loft that takes up a minimal amount of space on the floor and only cost $20. A couple of my friends and I put it up last fall and have been sleeping on it ever since. Never once have I had a problem. In fact, I do not think I could call this room home if I did not have my exquisite loft.

I guess then it is a good thing I probably will not be living in the dormitories next fall. In case you missed the flier, the Department of Residence is considering not allowing lofts that students have built on their own next fall. Apparently my thus-far harmless bunk bed is a hazard to my safety and well-being. Oh no, I better take it down this instant!

I am sure I am not the only one who thinks this is just a little ridiculous. It just seems to me that this is another way for the university to milk another $100 out of us a year to rent the lofts through the school when we can get them permanently for a fifth of the price that a year would likely cost us.

Well, I am tired of being milked like a cow. I will already be paying roughly $700 more for tuition next year than I did this year. If I decide to stay in the dorms I will pay an additional 7.6 percent for the same services provided for me this year, including the delicious and nutritious residence hall gruel.

A positive thing the university is doing is considering some alternate solutions to renting lofts. Unfortunately most of these can be put out to pasture.

One of the less than brilliant ideas proposed was that students could have only certain styles of lofts made by certain vendors. This kind of requirement may be cheaper than renting through the university but it is still quite a bit more expensive than building your own. Last I checked, Lowe’s was selling single lofts for approximately $90. This is more than four times greater than the cost of my double loft. This proposition also would completely eliminate hanging lofts, which many students enjoy because they save space in very tiny rooms.

An unlikely solution also suggested is that the university would simply supply the lofts. The great thing about this is it would not cost the students a thing. But in the real world, we can all see this is not feasible. With the university laying off student employees and making budget cut after budget cut, it’s apparent there is not enough money to buy the thousands of lofts needed for all residence hall rooms. As much as I like the idea of free, this suggestion can be forgotten.

But do not refer to the university as ignorant dairy farmers yet. They have one more trick in their overalls that may actually have some promise. This concept consists of university officials checking the construction and maintenance of lofts. This way they can check to see if they are sturdy, safe and meet fire code requirements – like having your bed at least 12 inches from the ceiling. I do not see how anyone could sleep with only a foot of space, but checking to be sure is not a horrible plan. They may also require rails so students do not fall off their beds at night and break an arm or a leg. I can certainly handle that considering I have feared many times that I am going to roll off my bed. Luckily, I never actually have.

These steps really would ensure our safety but still let us keep our creativity in our rooms. According to Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence, Iowa State is one of few colleges that still allows students to build their own lofts. Let’s keep it that way and by doing so keep our college unique in at least one way. Please, stop tugging on our metaphorical udders and let us make our rooms feel like home.

Ayrel Clark is a freshman in pre-journalism and mass communication from Johnston.