The Economy and its Affect on Student Housing

According to Ann L. Morgenstern, Assistant Director for Marketing Services for the Department of Student Housing of almost 3 years, the current economy is not affecting student housing in a negative way. Students will be able to stay in the residence halls with little or no change due to any differences in University funds.
In a recent report by Boston.com, Larry Sparks, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance said, “This year part of operations are funded with $9.5 million in stimulus funds and those don’t come back next year.” When Ann was asked about this report she said, “Well, we are considered an auxiliary; we bring in our own money.”
Sparks did add that it was “unclear” how the situation would be handled and that they had to “be aware of all possible scenarios”. Boston.com interviewed Tomes, a sophomore here at the university. Tomes’ opinion on how the university would regain some of the funds was, “They’ve raised the prices of food at the student union.”
Ann said that what does affect housing is when there is a big class of freshmen. She said “It was really high last year, and that the occupancy is very high because of it.”
Christopher Brownlee, a Resident Assistant of over a year, described his job as someone that “builds communities by creating programs”. He also said that due to the economy his job is harder. Not because of the lack of money, but because there are just more students.
However, Christopher did say “it was harder to place students in dorms”. His reasons were the incline of tuition and also the rise in students. He said that the tuition has gone up every year since he was enrolled at the university in 2006, adding to the difficulties.
The report in Boston.com also chronicled several other Mississippi schools as it related to the economy. Mississippi State University, Jackson State University, Delta State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi were the other schools discussed in the article.
Other areas that could be affected by the economy are non-faculty workers. The custodians and the workers in the restaurants in the student union could possibly be affected after the stimulus funding is gone.