Students Experience Temporary Hotel Residence

As the student population at Charleston Southern continued to grow and dorm rooms were quickly filled, upperclassmen female residents were given the opportunity to experience living off campus, but not in an apartment as most students might think. Overcrowding had become a concern to many individuals before the 2007-2008 academic year began, but the issue was resolved through the solution of providing housing at the Fairfield Inn.

Located minutes away from the school, and with room service, continental breakfasts served each morning, and free toilet paper, the hotel has allowed residents to really enjoy their new living quarters. Each female resident was personally selected by CSU staff members based on good grades and excellent reputation within the school, and many of the women selected have since been relocated back to campus. The remaining 22 students occupy two floors of the hotel and will once again move back into the dorms after the Christmas holiday.

“It’s awesome being in the hotel,” said junior, Danielle Jones. “It was aggravating at first because I kept accidentally deactivating my room key, which can be caused by just touching the battery of a cell phone. The staff is so nice, and they like talking to us and seeing us around.”

“It’s quiet and peaceful,” said Residence Life Coordinator, “not a lot of noise like the dorms. There is a sense of being at home, not like the dorms, you’re always at school.”

Rooms differ from dorm rooms in that there are only two women to a room, rather than three and those students share one closet and have two drawers each for their clothes.

“If you think about it, that’s not quite enough room for a whole semester’s worth of clothes,” said Jones. “It’s not too bad though. Me and my roommate keep most of our clothes in containers.”

Additionally, residents do not have suite mates and said they believed the bathrooms to be bigger than those in the dorms. “I love it!” said junior, Brittany Whitlock. “It works out well.”

Meal plans are also provided for the students as if they lived on campus, but for many, the inconvenience of driving back and forth for meals is too time consuming.

All rules and standards addressed on the student housing contract that are expected to be abided by students on campus are also required to be adhered to by those living at the hotel. A Residence Life Coordinator, R.A. and R.D. are all living on the two floors in order to enforce these rules, but there is still a sense of separation from the other students on campus.

“I do like living in the Hotel but as far as better than the apartment on campus I would have to say no,” said Indovino. “I can’t wait to move back on campus into the apartment to be closer to my students living on campus.”