Skaptopara 3: Comfort may come at a higher price

Photo by Teodora Ion-Rotaru

The construction of Skaptopara 3's first block is two weeks ahead of schedule, Vice President (VP) for Finance and Administration Alexander Alexandrov said. It will be impossible to open the new residence hall before the beginning of the Spring 2010 semester, the scheduled date.

The new block will accommodate around 110 students in double rooms with private bathrooms. "That's the most important part - you would have a roommate and your own bathroom," Dean of Students Lydia Krise said. The size of rooms will be about the same as in the first two Skaptopara Residence Halls, she added.

The Administration is still deciding whether it will charge the same fee for Skaptopara 3 as for the current Residence Halls. Rooms in Skaptopara 3 "have to be more expensive because they are single rooms with two beds [and] with private bathrooms," Alexandrov said. He added the Skaptopara 3 rooms need to be more expensive in order to cover higher costs and maintain equity within the student body.

The price for Skaptopara 3 housing will range between $1,000 and $1,500 per year. "We don't want to be making money out of it but we want to revoke cost subsidization," Alexandrov said. Paying the same money for Skaptopara 3 housing and for Skaptopara 1 housing, in its current condition, is not fair, he added. "Not only it is not fair but economically it wouldn't work. It is more expensive to have a double room that's private," Alexandrov said.

"Right now room rates are set by the Board [of Trustees]," Krise said. "Any changes to that would have to [go] through the Board," she added. Krise said Skaptopara 3 housing cost was discussed but nothing was decided.

Skaptopara 3 will have the same facilities as the other residence halls, such as a gym and a laundromat, Alexandrov said. "I don't know whether we will [have] the gym in the very first semester, but you [will] have the same amenities as computer labs [and] study areas," he added. Alexandrov said there will be other recreational facilities in Skaptopara 3 like a pool table, "but not in Skapto 3, block A."

Illustration by Viktoriya Muresh

Couples will not be allowed to move in together in Skaptopara 3 double rooms, Krise said. "Married couples is one thing, but what if you break up before the finals, what do we do?" Alexandrov said. "We cannot guarantee [that] everything will be fine, and who leaves before finals," he added.

The groundbreaking date for the second and third Skaptopara 3 blocks has not been set yet. There are not enough resources even though "we have the blueprints," Alexandrov said. "There's $600,000 from ASHA [Unites States Agency for Schools and Hospitals Abroad] for block B [of] Skapto 3 but that's not sufficient, so we need to find the money first," he added.

"Even if we get the money, we need to get the number of students [up]," Alexandrov said. The capacity of Skaptopara Residence Halls after the completion of Skaptopara 3 Block A will be 1,000 beds. With around 1,100 students currently enrolled "that may be just the number of beds that we need. So, until we get the enrollment up it may not be prudent to continue," Alexandrov said. "Otherwise nothing would give me more pleasure than to finish the construction," he added.

The Administration still plans to continue the construction of the other Skaptopara 3 blocks as soon as it finds the necessary financial resources. "We want to de-triple the six person suites and make it so that it's not six persons per bathroom," Alexandrov said. "The original idea for Skaptopara 1 was four-person suites," Krise said. Skaptopara 2 rooms will not be de-tripled. They were "designed to be that way, so it would not change," Krise said.