As construction on the University of Wisconsin’s new residential halls begins and landlord Steve Brown prepares to sell his private dorms in the coming weeks, the UW campus is set to usher in the start of a number of changes that could forever alter student housing in Madison.
Paul Evans, director of University Housing, said he does not expect the number of students living in public or private dorms to change right away, since the demolition of Ogg will offset the construction of new dorms on Park and Dayton Streets. However, once the university adds an additional 800 beds to its housing capacity, the campus could see a large number of students shifting from private to public dorms.
“When we get larger, then we think there will be more students living on campus,” he said. “We’re targeting freshmen. We’re not interested in increasing the number of upperclassmen living on campus. They have other options in that the vast majority of them live off campus.”
Evans expects many freshmen will opt to live in the new public dorms.
“If the private dorms want to reinvest in that market — the 20,000 undergraduates living off campus, that’s the group they’ll have to target,” he said.
Many students currently living in the private dorms are from out of state. Because of the limited number of spots for students in the public residence halls, not all students who apply to live in the public dorms get their first choice.
“A lot of East Coast kids come to the private dorms because they don’t get the papers for the public dorms,” said UW freshman Katie Nicholas.
Nicholas said she chose to live in the Langdon, but were she to do it all over again, she would live in the public dorms.
“I like the Langdon, it’s nicer,” she said. “I lived in it by choice, but I think now I would have chosen to live in the public dorms. There are a lot more people there and I’d like to hang out with more people there.”
UW freshman Renee Frantz from Ohio, also a resident at the Langdon, said when she first looked into housing options in Madison she thought there was no space left in the public dorms. After speaking with friends who were already in Madison, Frantz decided to look into private dorms.
“The only reason I didn’t choose Statesider or Towers is I wanted a real dorm experience, something more traditional, and Statesider felt more like an apartment to me,” she said. “I really like [the Langdon]. My favorite thing is the location, it’s great for going out. They have a really nice facility.”
But Frantz added if she were an incoming student when the new public dorms are in place, she would be interested in living there.
“I think I would definitely consider living in the public dorms more than I did, especially if they’re nicer,” she said. “I think it’s kind of cool they’re building new dorms.”
