On-Campus Housing at Ohio University – Delight or Despair
By: Luke Steiner
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ATHENS, Ohio – Residence hall life at Ohio University can make or break your mood during the semester.
Ohio University Students are required to stay in halls through their sophomore year, if they’re not staying in a fraternity or sorority house. For those waking up in one of the older dorms, their views of Ohio University can be much darker than those fortunate enough to get a berth in a newer building.
The newer halls, like Carr Hall or Adams Hall, feature a wealth of appointments, unlike the older Bryan Hall. Newer halls offer suite-style living with a shared bathroom between two rooms; older halls still have a community bathroom shared by the whole floor. Social areas in older halls are often dingy and small, where newer halls, with study rooms, are bright and cheery.
But those appointments come with a cost. Students in the newer, and even in older updated halls, pay for the extra amenities.
Students get to pick what room they would like to stay in on a first-come, first-served basis. Sophomore Spencer Charlton, who lives in Bryan Hall, said that process should change.
“I think they should do it based off of the living conditions you had your previous year,” he said.
Still, Charlton says that living in an older hall is not all that bad.
“But at the end of the day, my longest walk is four minutes to Bentley, but in terms of general condition, yes there is a disparity that is somewhat unfair,” he said.
Students living in Carr Hall see the nice side of the difference. Sophomore Brad Walker said he loves living in a newer hall.
“I think it is nice that everything is updated, everything is really shiny, the rooms are really high quality,” he said.
Ohio University’s Housing and Residence Life is in the midst of updating older halls.