Housing: What Should Students Do?

By Matthew T. Roy

At Fort Lewis College, students have a variety of housing options, but the primary choice for many comes down to off-campus living or resident housing.

However, not all students face this dilemma. Freshman do not have any option when it comes to living on campus due to an FLC rule that mandates freshman to live on campus for at least their freshman year, Julie Love, senior student affairs director at FLC, said.        

According to documents attained by The Independent through Love which show all Colorado schools, the percentages of students who live on-campus in those schools and how many years students are mandated to stay in on-campus housing in Colorado institutions, FLC has the highest rate of retention of keeping students on campus even though they only have a one year requirement.

Forty percent of FLC students live on campus despite only about 23 percent of the school being constituted by freshman. The other 17 percent are sophomores, juniors and seniors who aren’t living on campus.

For comparison, Colorado State University-Pueblo has the same one-year mandate for incoming freshman, but only 19 percent of the school stays on campus.

It also may be because the prices of apartments and houses to rent in the city of Durango are high and living on campus may be easier and more affordable, Love said.

One reason that students might be inclined to live on campus is that it’s easier and more affordable than the high rents that apartments and houses cost.  In many cases, living in the traditional dorms on campus is more affordable than living comfortably off, Love said.

“Some places in Durango are ridiculously priced,” A.J. Shaw, four-year FLC senior who has lived both on and off of campus, said.

Shaw lived in Camp Hall, one of the traditional housing options, during his freshman year and has lived off campus in the three years since.

“On campus, the traditional dorms are cheap and easy but they aren’t comfortable,” Shaw said. “If you can find affordable housing and good people to live with in the city that is the way to go for sure.”

Now living in a three-bedroom two bathroom house, Shaw says he pays a full year of rent for about what it would cost a student to live in West Hall, one of the suite-style campus housing options, for a full year. This is not including the meal plans that students living in dorms are required to purchase as well.

There are multiple different meal plans that students can purchase, including a 19-meal, 14-meal, and ten-meal per week plans that all cost over $2,000 per semester.He spends less on food now that he lives off campus, less than $100 dollars a week, than he did when they were living on campus, Shaw said.

However, while living off campus may be more comfortable, it is more expensive in many cases, Love said.

The reason for high prices in Durango may be as simple as supply and demand. There is a vastly growing population in La Plata county and housing developments are struggling to keep up, according to a 2015 study by the La Plata County Regional Housing Alliance.

This document states that 790 new housing units are needed annually in the La Plata County to compensate and meet the economic growth forecast for the county.

“Everyone is worried about the housing prices in Durango,” Love said. “I certainly think that living on campus is beneficial, even for sophomores, juniors and seniors, but really, that critical year, is the first year.”

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