Michigan Journal

Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Google

The University of Michigan-Dearborn has begun to once again look into creating housing for its students.

Research was done on the topic five years ago, but hasn't been followed up on until this year.

The university has already taken several steps toward the development of student housing in the near future, including focus groups and surveys.

Before the last holiday break, two focus groups were held that included approximately 10 students each, which is an ideal number for a focus group, according to Vice Chancellor Stanley E. Henderson.

The focus groups were run by the staff of Brailsford and Dunlavey, a nationally recognized independent consulting firm, which is also the firm that developed the survey that was e-mailed to every student on campus.

The purpose of the focus group was for Brailsford and Dunlavey to figure out what kinds of questions should be included in the survey.

The survey, which has been e-mailed to everyone's UM-D account is open until Feb. 1, 2008. It is being used to gauge student interest in campus-provided housing.

The survey contains questions such as where the student lives, who he or she lives with and how long his or her driving time is to school each day.

The survey also provides students with several theoretical room designs and three locations from which they can choose where they would most be interested in living.

The three possible locations for student housing to be built are on campus, adjacent to campus and in an area in West Dearborn.

According to Henderson, five years ago students didn't like how the housing designs were mostly based on the "shotgun hall," which is the typical dorm hall with two-person bedrooms down each side of the hall and a community bathroom at the end of the hall.

This year's survey contains designs such as that typical dorm building, but also possible designs such as dorm suites, apartments with five bedrooms and a central living room, kitchen and bathroom and studio apartments.

The next step to action by the school will be to send the survey to all admitted Fall 2008 freshman, and to students who have been admitted to the school for the upcoming year who may have turned down UM-D because of its lack of student housing.

Henderson wanted to make it very clear, though, that creating this survey does not commit the school to action in the next few years; student housing may or may not be built following the results of the survey.

One of the main reasons to build student housing would be to increase the sense of community in the current commuter campus.

"It's easy not to be engaged on campus," Henderson said.

He believes that if this housing were to be built, we would "almost immediately" see a change.

Ashley Francis, a student at UM-D, said that she would not use student housing at UM-D, but that she has lived in student housing at Grand Valley Student University and that she "loved living on campus."

"I had a whole lot of fun, and I met a lot of people. I think that it would be a good idea for those who would like to try living on campus and getting off on their own."

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