With living expenses skyrocketing across the country, students at Dixie State College can rest easy knowing that their dorms, along with their tuition, are some of the best bargains available.
At a cost of just under $4,000 per school year, which includes all utilities, cable TV, Internet and food, Dixie offers the third most inexpensive dorm experience in the country, according to a recent report by U.S. News & World Report. At hundreds of other universities, such as New York University, Georgetown University and the University of California at Berkeley, the cost of living on campus is sometimes higher than the cost of attending class, according to the report.
"Honestly, I think the price of tuition is kept really low, and the average weather here is nice, and that together keeps students coming here," said Kathy Welch, Dixie's housing office manager. She said on-campus housing options, mostly utilized by incoming freshmen who "feel safer and more secure being on campus," are affordable enough to be enticing for the first year.
"But they have to purchase a meal card," Welch said, adding that their rooms do not have kitchens and the only approved appliances are microwaves. Cafeteria-style meal cards, which add anywhere from $849 to $1,249 to semester expenses, include various on-campus food options that are required to be open when students would need them to be.
Even though Welch says students "have all they need," schools with pricier dorms, such as Suffolk University in Massachusetts, provide amenities such as private bathrooms and suites, free Wi-Fi, embellished fitness centers, and 'living learning' opportunities to study with professors. On-campus living at Suffolk is among the most expensive in the nation: $14,544 for two semesters.
This past fall semester, when enrollment at the school increased by more than 22 percent, was the first time that Dixie Housing and Resident Life services — which can accommodate 223 students, two in each room — had a waiting list of students hoping to live on campus. By the time school started, only a handful were turned away. By July of each year, Welch said, off-campus housing is about 95 percent full. However, occupancy rates at private facilities are not tracked.
Dixie has two housing complexes for single students, containing shared or private rooms that vary in price. The buildings were erected in the 1960s, but many of the rooms have been renovated recently to include modular furniture that can be arranged to any student's specifications. Average costs for comparable off-campus housing in the same area run around $1,200 each semester, not including the extras.
Cheaper dorms are typically at colleges in rural, low-cost communities, far from public transportation, which means the savings are eaten up by car expenses. Some buildings even lack air conditioning and other modern conveniences, such as elevators.
At colleges in high-cost areas, even shared rooms can cost more than $1,000 a month, not counting dining expenses, tuition or books, U.S. News reports. Some schools expect their dorms to turn a profit, which then helps to fuel financial aid for students, but in Utah, that is not the case.
Including in-state tuition, fees and room and board, attending Dixie and living on campus could cost a student $7,093. Out-of-state students can expect to pay about double that. According to the report, Dixie has the lowest tuition and fee schedule of any school in the study.
"People come from all over to go to school here," Welch said.
e-mail: wleonard@desnews.com