UTICA — With undergraduate enrollment up more than 20 percent, Utica College is planning to build new housing on campus for 144 students. More than 100 Utica College students currently stay at the nearby Ramada, says Jeffery Gates, the school’s senior VP for student life and enrollment management. The new housing will allow those students […]
UTICA — With undergraduate enrollment up more than 20 percent, Utica College is planning to build new housing on campus for 144 students.
More than 100 Utica College students currently stay at the nearby Ramada, says Jeffery Gates, the school’s senior VP for student life and enrollment management. The new housing will allow those students to live on campus and accommodate some growth beyond, he says.
The housing will consist of three three-story buildings holding four-bedroom apartments, each designed to hold four students. They will be built by the school’s tennis courts, near Nye Ave.
To blend with the nearby neighborhood, the housing will not be traditional brick, Gates says. Instead it will be built clapboard-sided with conventional roofs. There will not be access to Nye Ave. from the dorms, he adds. “We want to be good neighbors.”
The project is expected to cost between $13 million and $14 million, Gates says, and will be funded by a public-private partnership including BBL, the college, and the Utica Municipal Housing Authority.
“The students want to be on campus,” Gates says. He adds that beyond those currently lodged at the Ramada, other students live elsewhere off campus.
Utica College has seen enrollment rise — from 2,064 in 2014 to 2,521 last fall — since it “reset” its tuition rate below $20,000 starting in the fall of 2016. In addition, Gates says, “the college offers 16 of the 20 majors that students and their families are searching for today.”
Work is expected to begin late this spring and finish in time for students to move in for the fall 2019 semester.
