Green Renovations Cost Students More Greenbacks

If you read last week's edition (before the majority of them were stolen), you saw the plan to renovate TechVillage apartments to become greener. Oh, and it has been deemed unsafe to live in, which if you've ever lived there, you know why.

I started college last semester really excited because I got to live in a big-girl apartment with three other grown-up college students! So I thought...

Actually, I got stuck in TechVillage with 50 or so other disgruntled freshman girls. Which by the way, putting that many confused, fresh-out-of-high-school kids together at the end of campus with no RA was a fabulous idea.

Maybe I am paranoid, but the windows are large enough for someone to break and get into with four of us asleep, and no one would know until the next day.

There really isn't a question about the safety of the place; it was obvious from living there that the place wasn't secure. I don't need word from the Tennessee Safety Department to confirm that. Though according to TDSTechVillage was deemed unsafe due to the apartments being structurally unsound.

Does a predator opt for breaking into a dorm with security doors or for apartments on the edge of campus that no one really checks on?

Other than daily battles with my roommates and generally feeling unsafe there, I noticed something else disturbing about my apartment: the place was disgusting.

The huge crack in the front door was okay, because there was some weird, gummy substance holding it together. The problem was the filthy bathroom.

Despite our best efforts and a bottle of bleach, it wouldn't come clean from crust and stains probably dating back to the '70s. Maybe it was also the fact that one of my roommates found a brown recluse in the den (which went unreported because I found out weeks later), or my broken closet door that was never fixed and would occasionally bonk me on the head when I was running late and searching for something to wear in the morning was the final reason why I just had to move.

I agree Tech needs to fix that junky mess that I lovingly referred to as Tech-Killage for my entire first semester of college. It really gave me the worst impression of this school possible.

I also think that green is the way to go. It will save energy in the future, and that is a great idea.

However, most students that live there didn't know about this plan until recently. Most students that live in TechVillage can't afford to pay extra rent because Tech neglected the apartments' upkeep for a few decades.

Let me get this straight. Tech didn't maintain these apartments and now needs residents to move out for at least a year so the place can be renovated, and then charge more for those same residents to move back in? Yes.

Not only that, some current residents are bound by a 12 month lease. The question is, what are these residents supposed to do about housing during these renovations?

If you live in TechVillage, it's usually because you're a single parent, a married couple or an unlucky freshman. Does Tech really think these groups can afford $600 rent a month? They need to support themselves and, if they have them, their children.

Another group, Tech must have totally over looked, is the international students living in the apartments.

I probably have more international friends than American friends here at Tech and every one of them has a scholarship with a specific stipend. Most of them don't have money for a lot of extra things or over-priced housing. With more and more international students each year, this is going to be a real problem. Especially since more than half of the international residents I know have student visas, which do not permit them to work in the US or take paid internships.

It really isn't fair. Most international students don't get apartments off campus because they don't have vehicles.

Imagine yourself in a foreign country, speaking a different language than you are used to, and learning a completely different way of life. Learning in English, socializing, and coping with homesickness is enough. Do you really think they need another obstacle?

I'd like to point out one of my favorite ridiculous policies here at Tech. Students must live on campus until junior year.

Here's the problem with that: there isn't enough space for us all [notice the amount of people stuck in hotel rooms and TechVillage].

Of course, Tech is remedying that problem by building more dorms, all of which will cost significantly more than traditional dorm rooms. New Dorm is about $1,000 more per semester than any other the other res halls and the new ones will be the same story. Even with scholarships, that's an expensive pill to swallow.

The newer Resident's Halls also have fewer rooms than the traditional ones we have on campus now. Somehow I don't think that is really a good way to solve the space problem on campus.

I agree that for the first year of college students should be in dorms. It is part of the college experience.

However, about 80 of us were robbed of that experience freshman year because the sophomores-on-campus policy is so important. The same problem occurred previous years. The policy should either be changed or less people should be accepted here because there isn't enough room for a reasonable price.

TechVillage will become too expensive to be an alternative for juniors and people who qualify, and Tech will either lose money or fill it with people who can pay the extra money. Where does that leave everyone who can't afford the inflated prices?