Residence hall rates will jump 7 percent

Residence hall rates will increase an average of 7 percent next year, but students living at La Aldea can expect rent to remain the same and will get additional perks.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved the hike in residence hall rates yesterday to fund increased operational costs, repairs and deferred maintenance.

However, the rent at La Aldea graduate housing, an apartment complex the UA acquired this semester, will remain the same at $460 each for a four-bedroom, four bathroom apartment.

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said he opted not to increase the rent at La Aldea, 825 East Fifth St., because it is "not cheap right now."

Although rent will remain the same, rooms will come fully furnished and ethernet and phone services will already be paid for.

Van Arsdel said some residents at La Aldea are still concerned because they do not get free parking on campus. However, Van Arsdel said if they lived farther off campus they would still have to pay for UA parking. In addition, La Aldea residents are guaranteed a parking spot in an assigned garage.

In undergraduate residence halls, Arizona-Sonora, Coronado, La Paz, Pima and the Highland Commons will see the highest increase at 7.14 percent, or $291, making the rent $4,369 for the year.

Apache-Santa Cruz, Gila, Kaibab-Huachuca, Manzanita-Mohave, Maricopa and Yuma residence halls rates will increase by $270, while Cochise and Graham-Greenlee residence halls will go up by $265.

The remaining residence halls will see an increase of about 7 percent also.

Students living on campus will also pay $40 at the request of the Residence Hall Association for cultural, educational and social programming, according to Regents reports.

Non-voting Student Regent Ben Graff said the Residence Hall Association, a student-led group, which represents all halls, felt they were included in rate discussions and were pleased with the process.

Yet some students said they are unsure why their halls need an increase in rates.

Kaibab-Huachuca residents Christina Shaw, a freshman majoring in English, said the operational increase of $270 seemed unnecessary and said she believed the costs of residence halls are already too high.

"It's too expensive, it's basically the same cost as an apartment for one little room," Shaw said.

Craig Smith, a Yavapai Residence Hall resident assistant said the rate increase of $253 would bother him if he does not see the effects of the money.

"It would be a problem for me if the increased cost of living is not supplying new things like kitchen utensils," said Smith, a pre-nursing sophomore. "If the new dorms that don't need new stuff are getting the benefits and old dorms like Yavapai aren't, that wouldn't make sense."

- Cassie Tomlin contributed to this report.