Augustana College First-Years have the choice of three residence halls: Andreen, Seminary and Westerlin. Students are given rooms at random during housing selection by Residential Life. The issue is that Andreen, Seminary and Westerlin vary in quality yet they all cost the same. This should not be the case.

The rise in cost to attend Augustana affected these residential options equally. Since the 21-22 academic year, student housing cost for hall doubles and triples went from $5,820 to $5,964, along with hall singles going from $7,860 to $8,056. This increase provides an even tougher decision for incoming freshmen in their search for an affordable college. 

Once on campus, most students can recognize the obvious disadvantages to living in Andreen or Seminary. However, Westerlin is generally the only residence hall shown to prospective students on campus visits. 

Andreen consists of only two functioning showers per floor, excessive heat throughout the entire academic year and no easy handicap access. Likewise, Seminary students also deal with no access for handicapped students, as they are on the second and third levels of the building. Neither of these buildings has elevators or air conditioning.

On the other hand, Westerlin provides students with air conditioning, an elevator in J-wing, a greater number of clean, functioning showers and sinks as well as the Westerlin Market, a quick and easy stop for meals or snacks. The overall facade gives a nicer atmosphere than either of the other two buildings.

Students can be granted accommodations to live in Westerlin, given the right criteria. However, many rooms are left empty. These should be filled with other prospective students, in order to provide as many as possible with the nicest dorm experience.

Zoe Heiar, a current CA in Erickson, lived in Seminary last school year and believes that the differences between residence halls is not balanced when it comes to finances. 

“I think that there should be a discount on housing [in Andreen or Seminary] because you’re not getting the same amenities as the other dorms [in Westerlin],” Heiar said. 

Heiar specifically considers air conditioning as an essential amenity and accommodation that all students should have access to.

“There were some nights during finals week where I could not sleep [because of the heat], and so I was walking all the way to Westie to go sleep in one of my friends’ rooms. I think that that is not okay,” Heiar said

Regardless of all other benefits, I am not sure how air conditioning is not something provided to all students. The fact being that all students pay the same amount of money for a dorm room where there may or may not be air conditioning is tragic. 

Knox College, a similar size liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, has a completely different set up than Augustana for incoming freshmen. According to its website, Knox students have nine residence halls to choose from, with a starting rate of $5,091 per student for a room. While it is unclear from the website what all amenities each hall has, I say that having more options to choose from at a slightly cheaper rate is a benefit. Augustana may not need more residence halls, but the college could reevaluate their pricing. 

This comes with the economic argument– will students be labeled as the “poor” students if they live in the “cheap” dorms? This seems unlikely, considering the cost to come to Augustana is already very high. Giving students an option to save money when they can does not necessarily label them in any way. It could just be a smarter financial decision.

I have personally been the incoming student who had to choose between Augustana and another school based on financial cost. Unlike some, I have the option to commute from home, but I am now in my second year doing so. If I could not get approval to commute, I would have needed to choose a different college. 

Realistically, Augustana has two options: offer varying prices for the different quality dorm rooms or make all three freshman residence halls more equally comparable.