As room and board rates continue to increase, the Department of Residence is facing the formidable task of keeping Iowa State students living in university housing.

One university residence hall that has experienced a drop in residents is Buchanan Hall, which houses graduate and adult undergraduate students.

Although she did not have specific numbers available, Kathleen Wacker, program coordinator for the Department of Residence, said she would characterize the drop as “steady, although it’s leveled off.”

Balsy Kasi, hall director of Buchanan, said there has been a drop in the number of residents for the past couple of years.

Kasi said he has heard negative feedback from the Buchanan residents about the increase in university housing rates, and he attributes the shrinking population at Buchanan to those increases.

“[The number of residents] has been dropped for a while,” he said. “The residents say since maybe the rates are going up, maybe that’s the reason.”

The rate increase, which covers rises in economic inflation and funds the department’s Master Plan, is university-wide.

“I think people like living here, but for the amount of space, they think the rates are high,” he said.

Director of Residence Randy Alexander was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Kasi said he is somewhat discouraged by the lack of residents.

“I’d like to keep the buildings full,” he said.

“The Department of Residence, we all have the same thing. We want to keep the buildings full,” Kasi said.

Wacker said department officials are aware of Buchanan’s drop in residency.

“Of course it’s a concern; it’s always a concern,” she said, adding that there are probably several factors involved in the decrease, especially the financial crisis that has been affecting Asian countries for the past couple of years.

“The drop in our number in recent years has been directly influenced by the Asian financial crisis,” she said. “Buchanan has always had a large Asian population, plus there’s been a drop in graduate students at the university.”

However, Wacker said as of press time, Buchanan Hall was full for Fall ’99.

Kasi, who has been the hall director of Buchanan for the past four years, said residence officials have tried to make living in Buchanan more enticing by creating policies such as a shorter lease.

The residents are allowed to leave after a two-month stay, with a 45-day notice.

The age requirement for residents also was lowered from 23 years old to 21, starting this summer session.

Wacker was one of the department officials who helped create the new lease policy, which went into effect two years ago.

She said the intention of the lease policy was to “create a system that is more accommodating for graduate students.”

Kasi said residents have given him positive feedback about the new policies.

“We have made the system very flexible for the students,” he said.

Wacker said department officials, as they do with all department policies, will evaluate the system at the end of the year.

The evaluation is “to see if it is serving our needs and the needs of the students, too,” she said.

Scott Rapier, resident of Buchanan, said he has noticed the decrease in residency.

“In fact, I just realized I didn’t have a neighbor,” said Rapier, senior in speech communication.

He believes the drop can be attributed to many factors.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the stock markets of several Asian countries,” he said, in reference to the financial crisis.

“It may be because [residents have] graduated and moved on to better things, or else because of the recent rent increases,” Rapier said.

Rapier, a resident of Buchanan for two years, said he loves living in the hall.

“The location is great, [but] the rooms are small, very small,” he said. “You pay for the convenience, and you pay for the location.”

Wallace Cass, junior in pre-business, said he definitely has noticed fewer residents in the hall.

“There’s been a tremendous decrease, and it’s directly proportional to the rate increase enacted by the [Board of] Regents,” he said. “People will protest Kosovo, people will protest no beer at Veishea, but fee hikes seem to slip by people every year.”

Cass said although the hall may be full for the fall, that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

“It will be full for the first 45 days, then the percentage will drop,” he predicted. “Then people will start moving out.”

However, Cass said there are still some benefits to living in Buchanan.

“It’s still cheaper than the average price of an apartment here in Ames,” he said.