It is high time to break the silence on the issue of differential room rates. The school constantly touts that every other college already does this as if this were a justification. One would think a college with an emphasis on ìindependent minds” would have a better reason for such a drastic change.
Charging more, significantly more, for singles than doubles sets a dangerous precedent for socio-economic stratification in our college lifestyle: instead of singles going to those who have waited and earned them, they go to those who (or more likely whose parents) have money to burn. And the amount a student saves on a triple or quad (which, if youíve been lucky enough to never experience it, is an experience for which Iíd be happy to bestow a discount) is pittance compared to the extra charge for a single.
All of these things made me nervous and uneasy. But I foolishly thought that in a program house I would be safe. However, when I found out there was a fourth, virtually unpublicized room rate I was flabbergasted.
People living in program houses will pay $210 more than the standard double room rate next year, regardless of their room size.
Ignoring the way this was disclosed to us (in our letters informing us which house we had, long after the deadline to back out and enter general room draw), this is a terribly unfair rate. The message these numbers send is that any room in a program house is better than any other double. Anyone who has visited Luce or Gault Manor and also spent time in the houses on College and North Beall will realize the absurdity of this assertion.
Living in a house is advantageous in that it offers the benefits of a small living community and usually a good kitchen facility. But it is disadvantageous in any variety of ways: poor circulation and climate control, longer waits for maintenance, non-COW card operated laundry machines, no vending machines or large lounges, and ó perhaps most relevantly ó smaller student rooms.
And not only are the advantages of living in a house arguable, we also already pay for it. Students in houses donate a minimum of eight hours of our time to the community every month to earn the privilege of living in a house. To charge us $210 apiece on top of that, for rooms the same size or smaller than those of our dorm-dwelling peers, is highway robbery.
Meanwhile, the comparatively few dwellers in house singles get away scot-free, saving almost $800. As a member of this lucky few, perhaps Iím not the one to blow this horn. But as the student coordinator of Common Grounds, I had to tell our excited, starry-eyed young recruits who had enthusiastically signed up to provide a much-needed service to the College that they were to be charged for the privilege, and to the tune of $200.
And that hurt more than any monetary blow.
Jonah Comstock is the Managing Editor for the Voice. He can be reached for comment at JComstock10@wooster.edu.