By Caroline Peacock
Q News
Over the last 10 years, High Point University converted its campus into a beautiful place for students to live and learn. However, are the pictures and tours that HPU offers, really reflect the reality that students live? Parents and students at the university have taken to social media in the past year and a half to complain about the housing process and the unfairness over higher tier dorms.
THE CONTROVERSY:
HPU attracts students from across the world with its beautiful campus. However, according to complaints from students and parents, the image that HPU sells to prospective students and parents exhibits a much higher standard than the reality. Especially, since most students often do not get a choice over where they live and who they live with.
Parents have utilized the HPU Parents Facebook Page to voice concerns and complaints over the housing process. Students have used Instagram on various pages to anonymously voice their opinion about the school as well.
The 2021/22 academic year proved to be the hardest year to obtain housing as a student. Most Sophomore students did not receive housing until July or August as they are typically the last upperclassmen to choose. During the first month of school, some students were housed in hotels. While others, mostly Sophomores, were told they had no choice over where they were going to live. Most ended up off-campus in University-Owned houses, North College, and Aldridge Village. Many parents and students had requested more information as to why this happened.
“My housing experience was very negative, I was told several different things from Student Life and when I reached out several times, they didn’t help me much at all and seemed very uninterested in helping me,” said one HPU student during an interview. “The school didn’t give me an option on housing, they called me over the summer and told me I didn’t have a choice in housing because they only had one room available for me, which was in North College Terrace.”
Another student explained that Student Life did not take her health seriously. “I reached out to them about health concerns including mental health, I was accommodated but after a strenuous process of multiple calls and emails.”
The student explained that the process to get good housing is too competitive. She also talked about those who are affected mentally or physically by their housing and how she believes they should be accommodated. She described the housing process as a game of roulette.
"I had a situation with randoms that went very poorly and one with randoms that went very well. Very much a game of roulette," she said. Randoms are a term coined by students to describe the random roommates an individual will live with.
This dissatisfaction with the HPU housing situation affects more than these two students. In a research poll conducted for the purpose of this investigative article, where 258 HPU students and parents responded to housing questions, over 49 percent agreed that the housing process was unfair.
One student who responded to the poll said, “does anyone in the housing department ever consider what a student goes through when they go through six roommates in 15 days?”
A parent of another student responded to the poll by saying, “My student is a senior and moved off campus due to not being able to live with friends though he homesteaded, and we paid tier five for two years. Sophomores were allowed to bump seniors who could be pulled in and it caused severe issues of anxiety for our student, which Student Life dismissed and so did security.”
Students and parents have both voiced their concern, not only about the process, but about the housing conditions as well. Lower tier homes, such as the North College homes are known for having significant problems, including mold, insect infestation, heating and air conditioning issues, water heater problems, and broken washers and dryers. These are the homes that most sophomores are placed into and for most of them, this housing option is not on their list.
One student explained that the lower tier homes have serious problems that are constantly dismissed by the university. “Mold is a very common thing, you will ingest dirty air and it will cause you to get sick, the ceiling leaks. Floods are common, the AC never works, maintenance will come, not fix the problem and leave if a ‘complainer’ makes a request.”
THE UNIVERSITIES RESPONSE TO THE HOUSING PROBLEM:
Erica Lewis and Nicole Hundt, two representatives who work for the Housing Team in HPU's Student Life Department was interviewed. Erica Lewis answered questions that parents and students asked through the research poll. Lewis explained that the Housing Team is trying their best to make the process easy and provide every student a safe and comfortable housing option.
Lewis, who no longer is employed at HPU, addressed a significant problem as to why it was so difficult for upperclassmen to obtain a housing assignments on the main campus. She explained the two factors that prevent sophomores, some juniors, and seniors from living on campus.
The first problem is the requirement to have freshmen live on campus. Most people find it important to have freshmen live on campus. They are new to the school and should live in the environment to help them integrate themselves into the community.
However, this year the school welcomed its biggest freshman class. Resulting, in less bed spaces open to upperclassman on campus. “A sweet spot has always been 5,000 undergraduate students,” Lewis said. The school has kept their undergraduate student body number in the 5,000 area. They have no plans of slowing or stopping the plan of reaching 5,000 undergraduate students.
The second problem is the new graduate program requirements. HPU President, Nido Qubein, announced a free fifth year for students affected by COVID-19. However, it comes with a catch. Students can only have a fifth year of education free if they live on campus and pay for room and board. If a student chooses to live off campus for the fifth year, the student receives a significantly less grant toward his/her education. This has resulted in a lot of graduate students opting to live on campus.
Parents have asked why graduate students are offered to live on the main campus, why not put them in North College? Lewis explained that it has always been this way. Graduate students who attended HPU for an undergraduate education will have their credit hours transferred over into their graduate years. New incoming graduates start at zero credit hours and receive their housing last. Since the housing program allows students to choose housing based on credit hours, graduate students typically choose first and most opt to live in higher tiers on the main campus.
Lewis also confronted the problem of unfinished housing. She explained that due to COVID-19, there has been a material shortage. This resulted in furniture and other items not arriving on time. Students were placed in nearby hotels due to this problem. However, most parents are confused as to why the university did not find temporary furniture to furnish the rooms. The university is located in the furniture capital of the world, most people argue that there should be no excuse for the students to be placed in hotels due to rooms that are not ready.
Additionally, most students were placed into random rooms, with no prior knowledge on who they will live with. Lewis explained that they are well aware that living with random people can be anxiety-provoking for many. However, there is very limited space on campus and those who end up at the bottom of the list are usually placed in whatever bed space is available, which is usually with random people. It is not ideal, but there is nothing Student Life can do with the current process to change this, according to Lewis.
Lewis also explained that, earlier in the year, they sent out a survey that over 1,000 students took. The survey requested feedback from the students on the housing process. The Housing Team at Student Life is busy reviewing the information. If a majority of students want the process to change, the university will change the process.
WHAT STUDENTS HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
The HPU community has been curious about the changes the administration plans to bring to housing on campus.
Barry Kitley, Senior Vice President for University Relations, explained during an interview that a new dorm is in the works. The project, called “Panther Commons,” will be built on Panther Drive. The new building will have five-stories with what Kitley described as having tall columns and the bottom level as being mostly made out of glass. He explained that the bottom floor will have retail and the top floor will house a new hibachi restaurant. The middle floors will be housing for students. Kitley did not offer an estimate on how many students it planned to accommodate. The building is expected to be finished in the year 2024.
The university will also be starting an infill process in an area that Kitley called the Northwest Housing. The area is across from the new Nido and Marina Qubein Arena, Conference Center, and Hotel. The land currently has houses on it, the school will be adding 15 more houses to the area. This will bring 80 more beds to campus. Additionally, the university is planning to lower power lines, put in pavers, and acorn streetlights. The community is expected to feel and look like the rest of campus by fall 2022.
More information will come in the next year from HPU administration on both housing projects. As for now, students and parents can voice their concerns to Student Life. The process will not change until the majority of students show that it needs to be changed.
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