Close to 500 juniors were chosen last week to live in GW’s newest and most expensive dorm, 2135 F Street, next year.
The five-year project, slated for completion in June, is the first GW building with singles and suite-style living, said Seth Weinshel, director for GW Housing.
“We haven’t done a building like this ever before,” Weinshel said. “We felt, it being single suites, it will be special, which is why we opened it up to fourth-year students.”
The price for students will be set at a meeting of the Board of Trustees next week, but Weinshel anticipates it to be about $12,500 for the academic year, making it the most expensive undergraduate housing. Weinshel added that the number is not finalized and the price could be higher or lower. He said the current most expensive housing assignments are singles with kitchens, Ivory doubles and New Hall doubles, which cost $11,845 for the year.
Each suite in the new residence hall will have two bathrooms, a kitchen, a washer and dryer and a living room. Seventy-five percent of the building is made up of suites with four or five single bedrooms, and 25 percent have two single bedrooms and one double bedroom.
Weinshel said the building was designed in response to many students on campus who wanted their own bedrooms.
More than 600 people applied for the 480 beds in the building, Weinshel said, in a special housing registration specifically for rising fourth-year students that began Jan. 13. Students were chosen through the regular iHousing program, which applies room and roommate preferences and randomizes individuals. Unlike during the general housing selection period, students are not allowed to cancel an assignment in the new residence hall.
“Based on the layout, design and popularity of the new building, there is a no cancellation policy for the building if you were assigned to the building,” Weinshel said.
Without a guaranteed price, junior Jillian Aronovitz did not apply for the new dorm.
“I did not want to be held into a binding contract without knowing the exact price,” Aronovitz said.
Aronovitz said she did not want to live in a residence hall she had never seen. Instead, she hopes to live in Ivory Tower with two other people.
Junior Brooke Miller, on the other hand, said she is excited to live in the new residence hall. She was notified of her housing assignment on Jan. 27 via e-mail and will live in a five-person suite next year.
Miller and her roommates decided to apply for the residence hall because they did not want to find an apartment and buy new furniture. She said they liked the idea of having their own bedrooms and a washer and dryer.
“I am excited to see what the rooms and building look like,” Miller said. “If I hadn’t been assigned to the dorm, I probably would have looked for an apartment next year instead.”
