EVERY year students and policymakers alike bemoan rising college costs. Experts at Wells Fargo expect a six percent annual increase on average. Here at the University, the Board of Visitors (BOV) is happy to do its part: Last week it announced an increase to on-Grounds housing costs. University residents will face an average 9.6 percent price hike next year.
Inflation certainly cannot explain this; did maintenance costs really rise that much? The cost of fixing a window or drawer doesn't vary that much from year to year. The BOV has further asserted that they need the price hike to cover depreciation costs. But putting off badly needed repairs only showcases the BOV's lack of commitment to student housing. The real cause of the current situation is a combination of poor planning and shortsightedness on the part of the BOV.
The housing market in Charlottesville is a tricky animal. It works something like this: Property owners (a.k.a. student slumlords) know that there is very high demand for off-Grounds housing. This is fueled by a combination of constantly expanding class size and the University's inane housing regulations, which range from limits on the square footage of posters to forbidding placing candles in a drawer.
Although the overwhelming demand has finally forced a supply-side response (check out all the construction by the train tracks and on JPA), leasers know they can still get away with charging exorbitant rents. So what ought the University to do? It has the power to act as an indirect cap on housing prices. By offering good, convenient housing at affordable prices the University can create an outlet for the pent-up demand thereby forcing down the price of off-Grounds leases. Too bad the BOV did not take ECON 201.
Wages for part-time jobs for University students are going nowhere fast, so every increase to tuition, room, and board directly cuts students' purchasing power. In other words, the recent housing price hike makes students poorer. For students struggling to pay their way through school, higher housing costs leave that much less money to spend on books or food.
But instead of taking many students' very real concerns into account, the BOV has chosen to expropriate even more money from students' pockets simply because it can. In fact, according to Off-Grounds Housing Director Vicki Hawes, it will cost more to live on-Grounds with the price increases than it costs to rent a typical off-Grounds apartment. Where is the voice of the students?
The current student member of the BOV is Lizzie Mullen. Her job is to ensure that the BOV thinks of the students first, yet she does not even serve on the Finance Committee which decided to raise housing prices. She further defended the BOV's decision with the lamest of excuses: "Student housing costs at the University are much lower than comparable institutions." So according to Mullen, the University ought to be lauded for having cheaper but still overpriced student housing. But the people who really lose are the incoming undergraduates. First-years are required to live on-Grounds, and charging more could certainly impact prospective students' decision to attend the University. Considering how obsessed the BOV is with the University's ranking, the decision to raise housing prices seems a bit counterintuitive.
The role of the BOV is twofold: watching over the University's day-to-day management as well as thinking of the University's long-term strategic goals. Sadly, this second responsibility seems to have fallen by the wayside. The BOV has focused so heavily on controlling costs that it has forgotten its obligations to students and not realized how to encourage prospective students to attend. It should have been expanding and improving on-Grounds housing to cater to incoming students and reign in student slumlords.
The better and cheaper on-Grounds housing is, the better off all students' opportunities for affordable housing are. It is Mullen's responsibility to remind the BOV of this instead of trying to explain away its inadequacies. With the Capital Campaign well underway there are new opportunities available to achieve this goal. I hope the new student member to the BOV makes sure the Board does not forget.
Josh Levy's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at jlevy@cavalierdaily.com.
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