Sticker shock!

This morning, AHinks sent out an email to students explaining a 2.9% overall increase in tuition and fees, the smallest increase since 2000.  The email provides specific breakdown of full tuition, in keeping with an effort for more transparency.  Those lucky high school seniors who just got accepted can look forward to a total cost for tuition, fees, room, and board of $59,000.

The rise in tuition this year is seemingly organic and was approved using national economic data including the CPI, median family income measures, and home price indices.  There were no significant changes in policy, such as last year’s repeal of part-time tuition fees.

A portion of these increases comes from a hike in housing prices.  Multiple occupancy rooms will be $8,450, up from $8,240 (~2.5% increase); single rooms are $9,800 from $9,480 (~3.4%); and those magnificent studio single apartments will be $14,500, up from $12,000 (~20%!).  By Bwog’s math, single rooms are $1,090-$1,225/month (depending if you count winter break/May as a full month) for a bed, a desk, and several cubic square feet of free space–that is, if you can even get a room.  Here’s to hoping prices will go down once you get a roommate forced on you!

Full email after jump

The following email was forwarded to Bwog:

From: Residential Life & Housing <housing@barnard.edu>
Date: Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Subject: Important email re: your Plimpton room assignment
Dear [redacted]

We are writing to you today because you are a resident of ##A# Plimpton (a corner room) with difficult news to share so close to the start of the semester. As you may have heard, Barnard is experiencing a significant housing shortage for the upcoming academic year. We currently have over 80 students for whom we have no vacant spaces in our residence halls. The combination of a higher yield rate, fewer housing cancellations, and a significantly higher number of housing applications have all contributed to our shortage this year.

Since many of the students who we are unable to house come from outside of the tri-state area, we are trying to create additional residence hall space to house as many of these students as possible. One way in which the College will accomplish this is by changing the occupancy of your Plimpton room from a single to a double room. We understand that this change is unexpected and may be difficult. After a thorough review of all other options, the College has decided that this change in Plimpton is the best way to accomplish our goal of housing as many students for the Fall as possible.

(more…)

We ran through the Columbia updates a few days ago, and now we’re catching up with Barnard. Matt Kingston, Associate Director for Housing Operations, reported the following ameliorations:

Welcome back ladies!

• Reid: Upgraded hallways on every floor means new paint and carpeting for all your cartwheeling needs.
• Brooks: The 4th and 5th floors boast refinished woodwork. This means all the doors and door frames were stripped of paint and refinished in their original color. The Lewis Parlor (the lounge on the 1st floor of Brooks) will reopen this year with library-style study tables and lights.
• 600: Renovated kitchens in the A and F line apartments were fitted out with new cabinets and counters. The bathrooms got new floor and wall tiles, and shower stalls.
• Plimpton: New AC and hot water supplies for the whole building.

Little home on the prairie via Wikimedia

Barnard has reached its housing cap—that is, the maximum number of Barnard students who can live in Columbia housing. For Barnard students who picked a backup room are OK-ish, but those who didn’t are going onto the ominously-named Guaranteed Wait List.

We are investigating just what this means for Columbia students who went into Suite Selection with Barnard students. Full email below.

Dear Barnard student:

According to our records, you registered as part of a group over at CU Suite Selection.

Unfortunately, we have reached the the point at which the maximum number of Barnard students who may select at Columbia (i.e. the ”cap”) has been reached.

We apologize for not being able to know in advance what the final cap would be, but the number depends on a formula which takes into consideration how many CU students who registered at Barnard were able to successfully select with their BC group (the total number of Barnard students who get to live at CU may not exceed the number of CU students who live at Barnard).

Hopefully you registered for Barnard Room Selection and selected your backup room at Barnard. If you did not select a backup room at Barnard (or did not register for Barnard Room Selection), your option now is to sign up for the Guaranteed Wait List.

We’re attaching a Guaranteed Wait List form for you to fill out and submit by 4pm on Monday, April 4 (if you need to do so). When you submit the Guaranteed Wait List form to the Residential Life & Housing office (110 Sulzberger), you will need to additionally sign a Barnard Housing Contract. Students on the Guaranteed Wait List have until August 2 to be able to cancel their housing contract, should they wish, without incurring the $1000 late cancellation charge.

Please let us know if we can answer any questions — Residential Life & Housing

Don’t fret Barnard, in the storm of Columbia housing coverage, Bwog hasn’t forgotten you! We will not be liveblogging Barnard housing selection because the powers that be across the street already provide excellent and efficient resources.

Matt Kingston, Associate Director for Housing Operations, explains two of the most important online tools for Barnard students in an email:

One of the most important things for students to know, but that a lot of people don’t seem to pick up on, is that our “Available Rooms” page updates instantaneously as rooms/suites are picked. That means that students can refresh the page before their appointment time (and even as they’re waiting in line at Room Selection, since the page is “mobile-friendly” for iPhone, Blackberries, etc.).

Our goal is for students to have realistic expectations about what they’ll be able to pick when their appointment time arrives. To that end, we also introduced a feature this year that shows students exactly how many individuals or groups by size that have not selected yet. If you log in (and are registered for Room Selection), the page also tells you who many individuals / groups haven’t selected who have an appointment time before your own. This hopefully helps students to have an idea of whether there are more groups ahead of them then the number of available suites for their group size.

That page also updates instantaneously as students select at Room Selection. However, because students can change their group membership up until they actually select (i.e. join, change, or drop from a group), these numbers can also change at any point.

Barnard’s housing website has a comprehensive collection of additional information, including a breakdown of different housing options, procedures, and a calendar of important dates. Jealous much?

Bwog just checked in with Matt Kingston, the Associate Director for Housing Operations at Barnard, and he provided us with a revelatory tidbit. The Barnard Housing website has an Available Rooms site that automatically updates after every single group/person picks a room. Basically, immediately after a room is picked, the housing system updates the site. The site includes links to a mobile site, and has different available room pages for Seniors and non-Seniors. So, that makes everyones’ life infinitely easier. The remaining schedule for Barnard Room Selection: Tuesday will be mixed-class groups of rising seniors and juniors, followed by rising juniors. Friday will be all remaning mixed-class groups including rising sophomores, and the rest of the day will be entirely rising sophomores. And that’s it: no liveblogs, and much, much less stress. Happy picking!

There’s nothing to put a damper on SPRING BREAK 2010! like housing trauma. Barnard students can start registering for housing on March 22nd, as in the Monday after spring break. Registration lasts for a week, until the following Monday the 29th. Lottery numbers will be posted the next Monday, April 5th.

New for 2010: registration will take place in Lewis Hall (not James) on the 1st floor of Brooks. There will be new, as yet undetermined, room rates for studio singles at 601 W 110th. Mixed-class year groups will use the best lottery number of the group, but on Selection Day the group will pick from the lowest class year. In 2010, the class year of Columbia students pulled into Barnard housing affects whether a group will be considered a Same-Class Year Group or a Mixed-Class Year Group. The maximum group side for a block of students is 4. There will be some form of required meal plan, but the site says that the official plan will be announced according to class year.

Also new, and interactive (!): a Room Review section that sort of works like CULPA. Students can provide room write-ups, as well as pictures and videos of their digs. Plus, get this: Res Life will randomly select four Room Reviews and award their writers a $25 Amazon Gift Card.