Residence Life announces single room cost uptick, financial aid reduction for commuters
The 100% increase applies to those with a Medical & Emotional Support Accommodation.
In an email sent to the Bethel community on Feb. 15, students were informed of new housing changes that will go into effect starting the upcoming fall semester.
Sent by Residence Life, the message included the following excerpt:
“Effective for the Fall 2023 semester, if you successfully petition to live off campus, your overall institutional aid package (monies from Bethel College) will be reduced by 25%. Note: This policy change does not affect current commuter students. … Effective for the Fall 2023 semester, ALL students who occupy a room by themselves (including Medical & Emotional Support Accommodations) will be required to pay the single room rate charge.”
Many Bethel students, faculty, and staff have raised concerns regarding the changes. The Collegian fielded some of these concerns for this story while also requesting for comment from five institutional employees:
Coordinator for Residence Life Chywonna Gonzalez
Coordinator for Residence Life Larry Rice
VP for Student Life Dr. MeShona Wren-Coleman
VP for Business & Finance Jayna Bertholf
VP for Enrollment Management Heidi Hoskinson
Of the five, Rice and Hoskinson declined to be interviewed, and Wren-Coleman was unavailable to set up a time to be interviewed.
“In the time since our last increase [in housing pricing] (2017), the cost of utilities (water, gas, electricity, [and] trash) has increased substantially,” Jayna Bertholf said. “Single rooms offer the option for students to have extra space, but the air in the extra space needs to be heated and cooled. Thus, the utility cost per student is higher when the student has a single room.
“Our director of utilities works diligently to minimize the cost of utilities on our campus, but the unit cost of electricity, gas, and water is mostly beyond our control,” Bertholf added. “As a campus community, we can work to minimize our usage of electricity, gas, and water — which is beneficial — but doesn’t change our cost per unit.”
Due to general inflation felt by the entire economy, it can be assumed that the pricing of housing was naturally going to increase (before, students with a Medical & Emotional Support Accommodation were only required to pay the double room rate). Chywonna Gonzalez asserts that this change was previously explained to students this year.
“What I wanted people to know in the [email] that I sent was to prepare [them] for the housing selection coming up on March 19th,” Gonzalez said. “So that students would have all of the information in one place so that they can make decisions about where they want to live and how much it was going to cost and all of the different policy changes.”
According to Gonzalez, the single room policy had been the most impactful policy that students paid attention to. “Bethel has had a policy in the handbook for as long as I’ve been here about students being in rooms without a roommate, the fact that they would either find a roommate or be assigned a roommate, or they would need to pay the single rate,” Gonzalez said.
Due to COVID-19, the policy had not been enforced like it had pre-pandemic and Residence Life hadn’t encouraged students to consolidate as much as they probably would have in the past. “But it is a policy in our handbook,” Gonzalez noted. “So we're just enforcing that policy — we're supporting that policy.”
After reading the changes, two individuals — one faculty member and one student — provided comment to (via request from) The Collegian.
“As soon as the new housing policy was announced to the campus community, students began to contact me because they felt that they had to make a choice between their mental well-being and their financial well-being,” Jennifer Chappell Deckert, associate professor of social work, said. “I was surprised to hear that they would be charged double for having a documented mental health reason to live in a single room.”
Students who have been approved to live off campus for the current year — such as Hayden Honomichl, a junior from Great Bend — are not affected by the 25% reduction in school-provided financial aid that’s now being enforced.
“Even though I’m a commuter student, it's scary to see the prices going up,” Honomichl said. “I understand that they’re needing to enforce this rule, but I feel bad for other students who are impacted by this policy. I was able to get off campus just in time. On top of the rise of tuition, the thought of having to pay double for housing accommodations is ridiculous.”
“I want to be a part of a learning community that’s inclusive, adaptive, and honors students for all that they are,” Chappell Deckert said. “And this means adapting our on-campus housing policies so there can be universal access (without additional cost) regardless of physical, mental, or psychological status.
“I want to believe that the Student Life department will continue to recognize single room requests that are supported by letters from therapists and/or physicians who can verify that a student's mental health wellness depends on a single room and that their access to this single room shouldn’t cost them 100% more simply because they have a mental health diagnosis,” Chappell Deckert added. “Additionally, this process should never impinge on their privacy or dignity as a worthy and valuable member of our community.”
The rationale behind the decision to double on-campus living and reduce financial aid for off-campus living includes recovering the cost of operating residence buildings. Decisions such as this one are made at all different levels within the structure of different departments at Bethel. With students choosing to live off campus, there’s an inherent loss of revenue.
“Whether a student has a housing accommodation, or they just want to have a single room, it’s basically a place for them to pay for the space that they live in, regardless of accommodation or not,” Gonzalez said. “So, again, we struggle with just saying [this]. That's probably not the answer that people want, but it’s the answer.
“It’s for students that need that accommodation so that they can have the space. It's not in place for the room to be cheaper. … The housing accommodation will still be accommodated if the space is available — just not at a discounted rate.”
Room consolidations — the process in which students without a roommate are asked to find one or pay to live by themself — have been in effect since last fall. “This is how the policy that we have in the handbook is going to be enforced … more for [the] fall of 2023,” Gonzalez said.
“Bethel is a four-year residential college, which is where the requirement was from the very beginning: it’s the intention for students to live on campus,” Gonzalez added. “Now, there are reasons why students live off campus and why they commute and there are five [ways] they can successfully petition to live off campus. COVID-19 became another reason for a while, but now we're coming back in line with the policy and the intentions for students to live on campus.”
The conditions for students wanting to live in a single room have tightened, but are still achievable. “If there's an account, if we can accommodate them, then they’ll just pay for the space,” Gonzalez said. “Then we’re leaving ourselves to where there’s some space to be able to have students return to campus if they would like to, and I’ve had quite a few students that are looking to return to campus.”
If students have concerns regarding room accommodations or wish to switch rooms, they’re able to fill out a request for consideration. They’re given the opportunity to provide reasoning for the potential move, which is taken before Dr. MeShonya Wren-Coleman, VP for student life.
“[Dr. Wren-Coleman] is an advocate for the students,” Gonzalez said. “The consideration form is another way to be able to meet with her and give an explanation for what it is that you want to be considered — whether it's a single room rate or housing accommodation meal change.”
Students are encouraged to contact Gonzalez, Larry Rice, and/or Dr. Wren-Coleman with questions. Residence Life is available to talk outside of the Caf until the housing selection to field questions and concerns on March 1, 8, and 15.