First look at CMU football, 1B Essentials for residence hall living, 1C Hot spots of Mount Pleasant, 1D 1B
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Central Michigan Life
Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
Tuition increase of 2.06 percent lowest since millennium Burdette: Declining appropriations played no major role By Emily Pfund Senior Reporter
photo illustration by victoria zegler/staff photographer
From left: Freshmen Meghan Sullivan of South Lyon, Kasey Lazarz of Farmington Hills, Samantha Houston of Ypsilanti, Amber Hill of Muskegon and Astarria Norris of Flint demonstrate the possibility of five girls at the mirror and vanity in residence halls this fall. About 175 residence hall rooms out of 1,800 will house five students this year, university officials said.
five’s company Some freshmen deal with an extra roommate this year
Joe Borlik and Melissa Torok | Staff Reporters
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“We made a decision to quit admitting any more transfers,” said Shaun Holtgreive, also Residence Life associate director. “It was more of a fourth strategy to move five freshmen into a dorm.” Only the two-bedroom suites will host five freshman this semester — meaning 11 halls in total will be affected. Of the 168 resident assistants on campus, 121 will also have three roommates instead of the usual two, Schmidt said. The 175 affected rooms include only incoming fresh-
men, not returning students or sophomores. The residence halls usually host 94 percent of freshmen on campus, but this fall it will host 97 percent, Schmidt said. A positive or negative? The number of incoming freshmen this fall is expected to have increased from 3,691 to more than 3,900, setting a new record. The last time CMU saw cases of five people living in the residence halls was 2003. Prior to that year, it was fairly common, Schmidt said.
More on-campus residents, higher room and board rates in effect By Sherri Keaton Staff Reporter
photo illustration by ashley miller/staff photographer
From left, Parchment freshman Steven Steele, New Jersey freshman Bryan Maurer, Livonia freshman Colin Ambridge, Flint freshman Jayy Crowder and Troy freshman Andrew Gardner illustrate the number of roommates many students will live with in affected residence halls Tuesday in Emmons Hall.
Though Flint freshman Astarria Norris and Muskegon freshman Amber Hill will not have a fifth roommate in their room this fall, both believe the negatives outweigh the positives. “I’d just be really stressed out,” said Hill, who lives in Beddow Hall. “No one would have any room to move and you’d just be in each others’ faces all the time.” Norris said two of her main concerns about sharing a room with four other girls are coordinating bathroom times and roommates borrowing
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2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-08 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 2000-01
$346 $339 $324 $304 $251 $213 $153.65 $148.75 $133.05 $118.9 $108.15
burden of tuition and university expenses on students and their families,” Burdette said. Among the factors necessitating continued tuition increases, Burdette cited contractual salary increases for some second- and third-year university employees and more expensive insurance premiums. He said he does not know what factors caused the larger tuition increases in past years
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Freshmen enrollment expected to break 4,100
By Randi Shaffer | Senior Reporter
ardines are packed three to five in a can. If you substitute the “residence hall room” for “can” and “students” for “sardines,” you get a similar situation to the one some Central Michigan University students living in residence halls are currently facing. Joan Schmidt, associate director of Residence Life, said about 175 residence hall rooms out of 1,800 will house five students this year. Though the arrangement has frequented residence halls in the past, it’s an unknown experience for many in CMU’s present generation of on-campus residents.
Tuition at Central Michigan University has more than tripled over the last 10 years. Each credit hour this year will cost students $346, a 2.06 percent increase from last year’s price tag of $339 per credit hour. It is the smallest tuition hike in a decade. The largest increases in the past decade occurred in 2006 and 2008 when the university raised tuition by 21.12 percent both years. Tuition went from $108.15 per credit in 2001 to $324 in 2008 over the course of former University President Michael Rao’s tenure alone. David Burdette, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, accredits this summer’s smaller increase to President Ross. “The president recognizes the
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each others things. Both agreed there was only one benefit to a five-person living situation in the residence halls. “You get to meet more people at one time,” said Norris, a resident Emmons Hall. “That’s about it.” Time management is a key part of living in a five-person residence hall, Schmidt said, in addition to less crowded ones. She recommended students fill out and follow their A five | 5A
More freshmen could be seen on campus this year than any other in Central Michigan University’s history with an expected 4,100 students this fall. The 11 percent increase also comes with a 2.5 percent hike in standard room and board rates, as approved by the university’s Board of Trustees last spring. However, a total decline of 200 students was originally expected in residence halls this fall, which led to the decision to raise room and board rates, said David Burdette, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, at an April board meeting. Burdette said other factors were behind the initial decision to approve the $196 room and board hike per
student. “While they are somewhat correlated to the number of students that come, (they) have more to do with costs associated with running the residence halls,” he said. “We increased the room and board rates very modestly to help offset the incremental costs of additional students.” Freshmen enrollment this year will break the record of 3,864 students set in 2008. Betty Wagner, director of admissions, said last year, 3,691 students were incoming freshmen. “Many factors contribute to an increase in enrollment,” she said. “It is a campus-wide effort ... I really attribute more involvement from the faculty members and the recruitment process.” A final, official tally for freshmen enrollment will be known in September. Steve Smith, director of public relations, said even though enrollment is more than anticipated, room and
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Funding for Botanical Gardens moving forward amid second phase By Ryan Czachorski Senior Reporter
The Fabiano Botanical Gardens were unveiled for the first time Wednesday to several community and Central Michigan University officials since their groundbreaking in September 2008. University President George Ross spoke to about 100 people at the start of ceremonies, expressing his excitement about what the gardens could provide for the university. “I can only imagine the hundreds and thousands of students who will benefit from this,” he said. The six-phase process is
currently estimated to cost $807,529, although a few components of the project have yet to be estimated. Claudia Douglass, interim vice provost of academic affairs, said the gardens are completely privately-funded. “It doesn’t, in these times, pull money from other programs,” Douglass said. They have received enough money to fund the gardens through the fourth stage, which will put a pavilion to the north of the pond. Douglass said she hopes the pavilion will be used for studying, graduation pictures and even weddings. Slightly less than half of
the money is going into an endowment fund, which will earn interest and fund the maintenance of the gardens. Both Ross and Douglas stressed the importance of the gardens as a teaching tool for the biology and geology programs. “We all wanted the gardens to be an outdoor laboratory,” Douglass said. “Something we could use for teaching and research.” Jim Fabiano, owner of the Bay City-based Fabiano Brothers beer and wine distributor, and a sponsor of the gardens, said the project is coming along just as he imagined. “I can see our plans and
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dreams coming to fruition,” Fabiano said. “I can see the whole CMU community coming to enjoy it, and that’s what it’s for.” The gardens are almost through their second phase of construction, which has added shrubs to the woodland edge and changed the shape and perimeter of the pond. The remaining four stages will continue until 2013. Future stages will add improved irrigation systems, plants that highlight Michigan’s ecosystems, a children’s garden and a number of new streams and pathways. university@cm-life.com
jeff smith/staff photographer
Central Michigan University President George Ross speaks Wednesday about the progress of the Fabiano Botanical Gardens outside of the Charles V. Park Library. The gardens serve as an outdoor laboratory for students, faculty and the general public to study plants.
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