GVSU approves construction to meet campus housing demands

ALLENDALE, Mich. — More students than can fit want to live on Grand Valley State University's Allendale campus, and the university's Board of Trustees took steps to provide them with beds.

The board voted to move ahead with the project that would add more living and dining facilities to the south end of campus by 2010. Grand Valley’s housing and dining systems are self-sustaining businesses. Neither tuition revenue nor state appropriations are used to build or operate housing or dining on campus. Construction and operating costs will come from the payments of students who choose to live or dine on campus. Room and board rates will not be increased to pay for this project.

The $52.4 million project would add three buildings that will house 608 students in apartment-style units. The project will replace six buildings with 139 beds at Grand Valley Apartments located on 42nd Street, south of Pierce. These 1960s-era facilities require costly maintenance and have reached the end of their useful lives. 

The project will increase the number of beds in on-campus housing from 5,464 to 5,924. That still will not meet the demand by students to live on campus. Last year, campus housing received 6,500 applications for 5,464 beds. Presently, 600 freshmen live off-campus as do more than half of sophomores. National studies show that students living on campus do better academically and are more likely to remain enrolled and graduate.

Grand Valley serves the entire state. Of Michigan’s 15 public universities, Grand Valley ranks second in the number of in-state students enrolled.

• The top six counties of origin for Grand Valley students are Kent, Ottawa, Oakland, Wayne, Muskegon and Macomb.
• 98 percent of Grand Valley graduates are employed or attending graduate school.
• Of those working, 88 percent have stayed in Michigan.  

“It’s clear, an environment that contributes to retention and graduation not only benefits our students, it also benefits the entire state,” said Thomas J. Haas, president of Grand Valley. “This economic climate requires us to be even more diligent about our needs and confident of the results. After more than 20 years of enrollment growth and increasing demands on our housing system, we must continue to ensure that our facilities meet student needs. The timing actually helps with our construction costs — we’re projected to save about $1.5 million because of the economic slow down and the competitive building environment.”

The project will also stimulate the local economy. The project could result in the creation of as many as 1,300 jobs, including all vendors and workers who will provide materials and labor to the project. The university estimates that up to 95 percent of these jobs will be filled by West Michigan workers.

The dining portion of this project will be a two-story building that will include a dining facility, convenience store, coffee lounge, and related operational support space.

Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2009 with occupancy set for August 2010.