Nebraska Hall is being renovated to make apartment style dorms for 115 undergraduate students, available in room draw by spring 2007, said Julie Weber, AU's director of Housing and Dining.
According to Weber, the new housing option will reduce triples and give transfer students more choices for on-campus living. The rooms will fall under the same type of room draw process as suites in Centennial Hall.
Priority will be given to students who can fill the suites and who have enough credits, Weber said. The price will be the same as single rooms on campus.
"We don't want to make it so more economically advantaged students get our best housing," Weber said.
The new dorms will each have two, three or four single rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The dorms can also be co-ed, Weber said.
According to Weber, each bedroom will have a double bed with drawers underneath, a bedside table, a bookshelf, a chair, a two-drawer dresser and a closet. Each living room will have two side tables, a three-person couch and two armchairs. The full kitchen will have a breakfast bar with stools. There will also be an [E-suds] laundry room on each floor.
"Our goal is to make it look different than everything else on campus," Weber said.
Nebraska Hall will have two resident assistants, who can pull their friends into a suite with them. On the basement level there will be a two-bedroom faculty apartment and one student suite.
There will be a front desk but it will only be staffed six to eight hours a day, Weber said.
Overall, students approve of the new dorms.
"I think it's a good idea because you're off campus but you're not at the same time," said Linda Beck, a sophomore in the School of Communication. "You are still close enough to walk but you don't have to deal with the campus."
Derek Heiss, a sophomore in the School of International Service, likes the freedom Nebraska Hall would offer.
"It provides students with more independence and privacy so you don't have to deal with the crap in the dorms," he said.
The added space is also important to students.
"It gives upperclassmen more space if they can't afford to live off-campus," said Matt Brown, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs.
Nebraska Hall is currently empty and being renovated from the inside. It used to be used for swing space. When an on-campus building is being renovated, the displaced faculty offices were moved to Nebraska when needed. Katzen is now filling some of that swing space, Weber said.
"We were able to turn it back into permanent usage and on-campus housing got priority," Weber said.
The dorms will follow university policy and remain alcohol-free because they will be undergraduate dorms and the majority of undergraduates are under 21, Weber said.
Weber said they hope to have hard-hat tours of the Nebraska Hall before room draw next spring. They also plan to set up the furniture in the Anderson Den so students can preview what the suites' setup would look like.
"Hopefully we'll get a lot of people in to see it so they know what they are paying for," Weber said.
Weber also said Jamba Juice will be closing with the end of the school year after four years of business, rather than reopening next fall in the vacant space in the tunnel.
"Before we took away the meal swipe option, [Jamba Juice] sales dropped significantly," Weber said.
A replacement for Jamba Juice has not been decided yet.
Eagle Staff Writer Marissa Newhall
contributed to this article.
