The University of Maryland Department of Resident Life is developing plans for a differentiated housing rate structure, which would allow students living in rooms with differing amenities to pay different housing fees.
This university currently charges four rates for rooms around the campus, and about 72 percent of students pay the base standard rate of $3,212 per semester, said Mike Glowacki, assistant to the director of Resident Life, but that could change as early as next year.
Other current rates per semester include $2,730.20 for students to live in triples or quads in traditional dorms; $3,347.50 for single or double rooms in kitchen-equipped campus apartments; and $2,845.37 for triple rooms in on-campus apartments, according to the Resident Life website.
Differentiated rates would take into account even more factors, such as the size of the room, access to a private or semi-private bathroom and air conditioning.
“We could quite easily keep the system the same as it is now,” Glowacki said. “I think when you consider all the factors, that would be a missed opportunity.”
Under the current rate structure, Glowacki said the base rate, which is an average, would see a 5 percent increase. By differentiating rates, however, Resident Life calculated that the base rate would only require about a 4.5 percent increase and that 65 percent of students would pay less than they do under the current system.
The new base rate for a standard double room would be about $3,356.50 per semester under a differentiating rate structure, while that number would stand about $20 higher under the current fixed rates, accounting for the yearly increase.
Junior chemistry major Amita Jain currently lives in one of the suite-style rooms in Oakland Hall and said she doesn’t like the idea of differentiated rates if it means she would have to pay more for her room. She said she wouldn’t want to have to choose between paying higher rates and downgrading the quality of her housing.
“If prices were higher for living on-campus next year, I would rather choose to commute to school,” Jain said. “I don’t live far, and living on-campus is so much more convenient, but the reason I chose this school was because it was affordable.”
Residence Hall Association President Sree Sinha said she has mixed feelings on this issue but thinks it’s a good direction for this university to take overall.
“The largest concern for people tends to be the affordability of housing, but if you look at the numbers, differentiating rates actually makes housing cheaper for the majority of people,” Sinha said. “Rather than the current model of the nicest housing being subsidized by people who don’t have the greatest digs, I think that many people would agree that it makes sense to kind of pay for what you’re getting.”
Glowacki said differentiated rates will also make housing much more affordable for some students with economic concerns, as double rooms without certain amenities would be cheaper.
Megan Vanjoske, a sophomore enrolled in letters and sciences, lives in Carroll Hall, one of the oldest dorms on campus along with Caroline and Wicomico halls. She said she would like a more differentiated rate structure because she does not feel her room, which has less square footage and no air conditioning, is worth the same amount as some of the others around the campus.
She said higher room rates wouldn’t prevent her from wanting to live in a better room either.
“Being in a smaller dorm building has been fine for my first two semesters, but I’d also be much more inclined to want to live in a more expensive room with nicer amenities my junior or senior year,” Vanjoske said.
Glowacki said that to look out the window of Prince Frederick Hall to Caroline Hall and know that a student is going to pay the same rate to live in either place just doesn’t seem fair.
“If we can create a structure that best addresses those three factors we mentioned, we can have a more fair and equitable rate structure,” he said.
Resident Life will also continue to consider how the new rate system will be implemented into the housing selection process, but first a final plan for the rate structure must be developed and approved.
There are currently several potential plans for how the rates will be divided up, Glowacki said, and he will continue to work with Resident Life staff and RHA representatives to work out the best way to handle the issue.
