With the official opening of the University Center Complex (UCC) and residential towers in the Fall 2022 semester, Stevens made a statement about its future as an institution. Perhaps the biggest single change to the campus in its history, the towers especially were a crucial improvement to the student experience at Stevens. Prior to the 2022-2023 academic year, on-campus housing was limited to only first-year students, with the vast majority of Stevens students given no choice but to search for housing off-campus. The UCC complex and towers signal a change in attitude towards student life at Stevens, giving upperclassmen not only the opportunity to live on campus, but also pushing the school closer to providing a more “traditional” four-year college experience. These developments are very popular among upperclassmen, as shown by the incredibly high demand for housing within the new towers. Upperclassmen scheduled to choose their rooms on the final day of room selection received an email stating that the majority of them would not have the opportunity to select a room, and would be placed on a waiting list instead.
Students at many other institutions in and around New York City wouldn’t encounter such an issue, as other private universities in the area at comparable overall cost, like NYU, Fordham University, Manhattan College, The New School, and others, are all able to guarantee housing for all four years of a student’s undergraduate studies. This is done through a variety of strategies, many of which do not involve on-campus housing, such as purchasing or leasing apartments to house undergraduate students. Stevens used to have its own leased housing program, which was phased out with the opening of the new residential towers. According to the Office of Residential and Dining Services, the towers serve as a direct replacement for Stevens Leased Housing, with the sole remaining off-campus housing provided by Stevens being 1036 Park Avenue, which houses only 19 undergraduate students.
Despite the lack of availability of on-campus housing, a large number of Stevens upperclassmen still prefer a more structured, dorm-like living experience. This was the driving force behind the creation of Stevens unaffiliated housing programs such as Hudson Dorms, an independent company whose sole purpose is to provide housing to students living in Hoboken. While Hudson Dorms is not officially affiliated with Stevens, it serves the same purpose as the off-campus offerings at other universities. Housing options as a whole are limited and expensive in Hoboken. Some upperclassmen, who don’t have the option to live on-campus, find having the security of a furnished living space reserved months in advance appealing. “I had no other option,” said Nick Sakarellos, a second-year undergraduate who did not secure a spot in the towers for next year. “Hudson Dorms allows me to live in an environment with friends and fellow students,” Nick explained, citing proximity to campus and additional accommodations as the reasons he isn’t seeking out a traditional rental apartment. Students tend to crave the structure of dorm living, but with limited on-campus options they are increasingly left to resort to unaffiliated off-campus options.
Stevens’ recent expansion of living-learning communities brings students with similar interests and backgrounds together, but also greatly impacts which upperclassmen will be afforded the opportunity to live on campus. While many students are familiar with the Lore-El Center for Women’s Leadership, fewer may be aware of the five new living-learning communities offered to first-year students within its residence halls. These range from the Scholars House, a section of Jonas Hall reserved for Pinnacle scholars, to 1GS, a community in Humphreys Hall for first generation college students. What’s especially new is the introduction of the Ducks by Design program, which allows students to form their own living-learning communities within Stevens housing. It remains unclear what criteria must be met to justify the creation and support of a living-learning community, as prior to the program’s introduction, these communities were previously reserved for traditionally marginalized groups.
Some students are uneasy about the Ducks by Design program because students in living-learning communities are essentially allowed to reserve spaces in Stevens housing with their early-access pass to room selection. Since only freshmen are guaranteed housing on-campus, the only way for any resident to guarantee a spot in the residential towers is to join a living-learning community. As Ducks by Design is open to all Stevens residents, many underclassmen fear that they will lose spots in housing to upperclassmen who take advantage of the program to get in ahead of the students who are supposed to have priority. Currently only 7% of the students entering living-learning communities in the Fall are upperclassmen, with most likely in the two student-created living-learning communities that will be located in the towers. While current students worry that the program may be abused in the future, for now, all current freshmen who applied for housing were able to select a spot in the residential towers.
