Second-year housing at Poly about to get easier

Cal Poly freshmen trying to live on campus for a second year are forced to play a lottery game in hopes of getting an apartment.

For next year’s freshmen, however, the chances of winning will be far greater thanks to a new 27-acre on-campus apartment project called Poly Canyon Village.

The first phase of the project will be ready in fall 2008 and will offer 1,167 beds and 964 parking spaces.

When the second phase is completed in fall 2009, Poly Canyon Village will house a total of 2,700 students, nearly doubling current residence hall spaces. It will also provide approximately 1,900 parking spaces with two parking structures.

The California State University Board of Trustees issued $219 million in bonds to help fund the project, which is the largest dormitory in the nation.

Anyone who has passed by the construction site, located adjacent to the on-campus apartment complex Cerro Vista, can see that the project is coming along rapidly thanks to favorable weather since the project’s start in March 2006.

“I’m very encouraged by the progress,” Cal Poly Housing director Preston Allen said. “In fact, I’m getting more and more nervous each day, because it looks like it’s moving along extremely quickly.”

Poly Canyon Village comes as a response to Cal Poly’s Master Plan, which calls for increasing enrollment from about 17,000 students to about 20,900 students.

Increased enrollment, however, means a need for more housing.

“The university really wants to be able to offer a two-year commitment to housing for students in their first and second year,” Allen said.

Through Cerro Vista, Cal Poly only offers 800 beds to the 2,783 residence hall freshmen who might want to live on campus for a second year. With the addition of Poly Canyon Village, Cal Poly can house 3,500 sophomores.

“In a perfect world, we’d like to be able to offer all 2,700 students an opportunity to go right over to Poly Canyon Village and Cerro Vista,” Allen said.

At this point, the cost to live at Poly Canyon Village will be in sync with Cerro Vista so that students pay the same at each complex.

“I don’t want to create a have and have-not, so at this point we’re looking at the two apartment communities being in line with each other,” Allen said.

A four-bedroom apartment at Cerro Vista currently costs $5,784 per year with two different payment plans, all of which equate to approximately $675 per month.

In comparison, a four-bedroom apartment with private bedrooms at Mustang Village, an apartment complex adjacent to Cal Poly, currently costs $690 per month on a one-year lease.

Although Cerro Vista and Poly Canyon Village will cost the same, each will have its own benefits.

Allen noted Cerro Vista’s beautiful view of Cal Poly, for example. Poly Canyon Village is a much more open complex with retail space, an Olympic-size swimming pool and is closer to the sports complex.

Poly Canyon Village will offer both shared and private bedrooms, whereas Cerro Vista only offers private bedrooms.

“I imagine all of these things will balance out and there will be wonderful things in both communities, but there will also be some things that students will appreciate more than others,” he said.

Poly Canyon Village will consist of three neighborhoods of residence buildings, several conference rooms, study rooms, fitness facilities, food and other services.

Near the front of the complex is a plaza, which will be used for retail space and creating a social environment.

“We designed this plaza, and we really want it to be the hub,” Allen said. “We think the students will want to eat, enjoy themselves with some entertainment and buy some things so they don’t have to get in their cars and go downtown to buy books or clothes.”

With the addition of 1,900 parking spaces in the two parking structures at Poly Canyon Village, University Police Department associate director Cindy Campbell hopes the increased parking will help the current parking issues.

“We’re hoping that Poly Canyon Village’s parking will have a trickle-down effect and help open up more spots in the general parking lot where those sophomores might have parked,” Campbell said in fall 2006.

While Poly Canyon Village is designed for future freshmen living in the dorms who want to continue living on campus, some current freshmen would prefer to live off campus in their second year.

“I’m done with living on campus,” said mechanical engineering freshman Mike Shrieve. “Sure, it’s close to class and you can meet new people, but where can’t you meet new people?” Shrieve said.

Shrieve found living on campus too strict and is more than ready to move to somewhere off campus.

Living on campus a second year has its advantages, however. First and foremost, Allen said, is the convenience of being at the university.

“You’re able to participate in campus programs, activities, meetings, appointments you might have and you might even be working on campus as well,” he said.

Living on campus can help minimize the amount of distractions taking the focus away from more important matters, Allen said.

Cal Poly’s housing program also makes the application process easier by not requiring an application fee, security deposit or a deposit for utilities.

“Also, the biggest drop in success is that sophomore year,” Allen said. “Cal Poly does an outstanding job in that first year due to the fact that they’ve got the support programs, they have the resident advisers in place to keep them focused and they’re surrounded by the campus reminding them why they’re here.”

The second year, it’s almost like they’re starting over, he said.

“You have to go out into the community and go through a completely different orientation,” Allen said. “I think being on the campus will be instrumental in getting them to that junior year.”

For aerospace engineering sophomore Ryan Tom, however, living off campus was far more beneficial academically than living in the dorms.

“Living so close together in the dorms can make it get a little crazy, whereas living off campus allows you to have more privacy,” Tom said.

Freshmen who do choose to continue living on campus can only do so for one more year. After that, it’s time to move off campus.

“It’s my thinking that students who are at that level within their college experience are much better fit in the community,” Allen said.

The Poly Canyon Village project is also the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified project at Cal Poly and the largest in the CSU system.

“It’s a matter of ensuring that the things we are building, creating, providing and offering are going to sustain society,” Allen said. “Poly Canyon Village keeps a close eye on that and we’re really happy about it.”

With Cerro Vista and the residence halls combined, Cal Poly has a total of 3,583 beds. Upon completion of the Poly Canyon Village project, Cal Poly will have 6,200 beds and the largest housing program in the CSU system.