Luxury housing at OU lacks students
NORMAN — Upperclassmen move into campus housing Wednesday at the University of Oklahoma, but many rooms will be vacant.
OU’s efforts to entice more students to live on campus after their freshman year began last fall with the opening of two elegant residential colleges that together can accommodate 600 upperclassmen.
The concept of a residential college was new to many students, but once they stepped inside and saw all the amenities, the beds in Headington College and Dunham College filled up, OU reported.
Officials predicted there would be a waiting list to get into Dunham and Headington going forward.
But this fall’s occupancy for the two residential colleges is at 70 percent, OU spokeswoman Erin Yarbrough said.
Another 1,230 beds for upperclassmen are available for the first time this fall with the opening of Cross Neighborhood, a luxury complex bordered by Asp Avenue, Fourth Street, Jenkins Avenue and Timberdell Road.
Two years ago, OU entered into a ground lease with Provident Resources Group Inc. of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to develop the project. The public-private partnership allowed the university to move ahead with the project during tough economic times, then-President David Boren said.
Balfour Beatty, which built and manages Cross Neighborhood, reports the occupancy rate for the fall semester is 28 percent.
How the low occupancy of Cross Neighborhood and the residential colleges will impact OU is unclear. Multiple requests since mid-July to interview an official who can answer questions about the situation have been unmet.
‘Cash negative from Day 1’
New OU President Jim Gallogly said earlier this summer the residential colleges were “cash negative from Day 1.”
They feature spacious dining halls, made-toorder food options, private courtyards, game rooms, comfortable lounges and libraries filled with books and artwork on loan from the campus museum.
Rates for one semester range from $3,999 per student for a two-bed room to $6,179 for a single room with bath.
Rates for Cross Neighborhood are comparable. OU also offers upperclassmen housing at the Traditions Square apartments at much more affordable rates.
Funding to build the nearly $100 million residential colleges project included $80.5 million in general revenue bonds over a 30-year term.
Before he took office July 1, Gallogly announced the university has been losing money every year. Total debt is nearly $1 billion at the Norman campus and debt service costs are almost $70 million a year, he said.
“Our debt has more than doubled in the last 10 years as we’ve been on a building campaign,” Gallogly said. “As a result of that, we have a beautiful campus and a lot to be proud of, but during that period of time, we spent approximately $730 million and that’s why the debt has gone up to that level.”