Expansion Of Residence Life Village Receives Approval from Trustees

California State University, Stanislaus is planning to nearly double the size of its on-campus housing complex by constructing 75 new units adjacent to the current student residences to accommodate enrollment growth.

The California State University Board of Trustees approved the $16 million project in September.
The third phase of the Residence Life Village will feature a three-story building with four-bedroom apartments to be constructed on the east side of the existing complex. The new facility will accommodate 300 residents, increasing the facility’s occupancy capacity to 656 beds.

Stacey Morgan Foster, Vice President for Student Affairs, said the University should be able to attract more regional students to live on campus as well as accommodate continuing students, who have a very high rate of return occupancy in the Village complex. Occupancy has been at capacity and the facility has a waiting list of students who want to live there.

“The expansion of the Village is an exciting opportunity to improve the quality of life for our students,” she said. “Not only will we be providing expanded state-of-the-art facilities at affordable rates for students, but we will be enhancing special living/learning communities through theme housing.”

Examples of theme housing might include a section for the Honors Program students, Community Service Program students or Student Leadership Program students, Morgan Foster noted.
In addition, a specially designed apartment to support a “Faculty in Residence Program” will be reserved for a professor and his or her family.

The expansion project will be funded by a loan that will be paid down by rent revenue income, as with the first two phases of construction. The university’s first on-campus housing complex opened in 1993 and was expanded to include an apartment section in 1996.

With enrollment growth and demand for on-campus housing projected to increase over the next seven years, the University is moving ahead with plans to start project construction by early next year. Plans call for the new housing section to be ready for occupancy in August 2004.
The new facility will include a 200-seat dining/kitchen facility, meeting rooms, a second swimming pool, sand volleyball court and basketball court. Residents currently eat in the university’s main dining hall.

Contact: Don Hansen (209) 667-3997