Southeast expanding private room options for fall semester

Demand is growing from Southeast Missouri State University students who desire to live alone on the university's main campus and Southeast is making accommodations.

Debbie Below, university vice president of enrollment management and student success, said Thursday a smaller number of private rooms have been available for decades and singles are offered in every residence hall based on space availability.

Southeast's Board of Regents approved student room rates Feb. 26 at its regular meeting that included a revised occupancy plan.

"In the 2014 year, we kept Dearmont Hall open to meet a demand for singles," said Below, noting Dearmont is currently being utilized for the small number of students who must be quarantined or isolated because of the coronavirus.

"Since then, we have added a lot of occupancy knowing we have aging facilities," she added, referring to the closures of the Cheney and Henderson residence halls because of infrastructure issues.

The Group/Greek Housing community building for Alpha Phi in Building K is seen Wednesday at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

"When you replace Cheney with LaFerla Hall and Henderson with the Dobbins Center at River Campus, you net more total rooms and with more rooms come additional opportunity to offer singles," Below said.

Most recently, a portion of rooms in Towers East and Towers South were converted to singles, and come the fall, students in Greek life will have the opportunity to live privately, too.

"We are extending this housing option to the five buildings near the Towers complex that we call our Greek/Group housing community," said Bruce Skinner, associate vice president for student life, enrollment management and student success.

Skinner said the campus community refers to these structures by the designations F, G, H, J and K.

COVID-driven?

The Group/Greek Housing community building for Gamma Phi Beta in Building J is seen Wednesday at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.Sarah Yenesel

"It's really not a function of the pandemic," Below said, citing the multi-year conversion of rooms to private before COVID hit, while also acknowledging students are not specifically being asked why they seek a private room.

Socialization

Having a roommate as an incoming student is still the preferred option for first-year students, Below said.

"We'll continue to encourage freshmen to have a roommate, and by and large, more than 90% of first year students do," she said, adding newcomers to campus are permitted to live alone depending on availability.

"Upperclassmen have preference, though," said Skinner, who added very few first-year undergraduates can get a single room when first arriving at college.

When a portion of Greek/Group housing converts to private in the Fall 2021 semester, he added, a total of 280 beds will be considered private, a little over 10% of total beds available on the Cape Girardeau campus.