Zack Stoycoff
Staff Reporter
CLAREMORE —
In just a year, Rogers State University will double the number of students sleeping, eating and studying on its campus. That’s twice the students walking to class in the morning. Twice the students calling RSU home.
“It’s long overdue, but it’s here,” said Rick Dunning, a member of the Oklahoma University Board of Regents, RSU’s governing body.
School officials broke ground on a new set of student apartments Tuesday, hoping to have 250 more students living on campus by next August.
That’s something that will make for a more traditional college experience, administrators say. And with a ceremony in front of media, politicians and faculty, they began building on one of RSU’s most celebrated distinctions — being the only traditional public, four-year university in the Tulsa area.
“These new apartments will not just house more students,” said RSU President Larry Rice. “They will bring a new sparkle to campus.”
The waiting list for the university’s current student apartment complex grew to 233 this year, when the university saw record enrollment for the third straight semester. The current complex holds only 248 students.
The new complex will house 255.
“Today’s project helps one of the greatest needs of the university,” Rice said.
Rice named student apartments as one of his first goals when he took over as RSU president in 2008. That was when demand for on-campus housing was beginning to soar.
“I’ve seen the need for residential units grow,” said Kyla Short, director of residential life.
Demand for student housing began outpacing supply in 2005, she said. The waiting list was nearly 150 by 2008.
“This is a right step in the right direction and we appreciate it,” said Adrean Shelly, president of the RSU student government association.
Apartment rooms in the new complex will open up to inside hallways.
The complex will feature a public gaming room, a theater-like television room, a laundry room, a coffee bar and a commons area.
The complex will have three floors, brick-centric architecture similar to the university’s current complex, and three floor plans for apartment units: 99 two-bedroom units of 473 square feet, 12 four-bedroom unites of 1,148 square feet and nine one-bedroom units of 361 square feet.
