Update 11/28/2019: The administration of the university announced they will leave the dorm open for an additional semester and that students who were living during there during the first semester of this academic year can stay during that semester. The dorm is still closing down operations in 2020 for structural rehabilitation but at a later date.
Approximately 350 students from the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras received two alarming emails over the span of three days. The first, delivered on March 29th, 2019, indicated that the contracts for on-campus student housing during the 2019-2020 academic year would only run from August to December 2019 due to the closing of the dorm for ‘’improvement projects.’’
ResiCampus is an on-campus student housing that has been up and running since 1960. It’s currently involved in a recently-approved project. This project will use 6.3 million dollars fo fix up plumbing, electricity, and pre-existing problems after the passing of hurricane Maria. This would be the second time, in less than two years, that the UPR closes down student housing.
The press release, via email, reveals more details concerning the funding, the reason why the student housing needs to be closed down for renovations specifically in 2020, and an attempt to reassure the multitude of students that are scared that they won’t be able to continue their studies due to the lack of affordable and accessible dorms. Another statement about the temporary nature of this closure was released by the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus’s Communications Director Mario Alegre Barríos.
This closure is worrisome for a specific population of students. First, those who cannot afford to pay for regular-priced student housing and are of low incomes—most of which live far from campus and wouldn’t be able to cover the expenses of driving to college every day.
However, this also represents a huge obstacle for students who have disabilities. The distribution of federal funds for studying , like scholarships, are unforgiving towards students who are unable to study every semester and take 12 credits per semester consistently. Odds are that many students who have disabilities, especially the ones who live on-campus, have specific needs that aren’t ensured or covered by other nearby housing. In the event that outside housing covers these needs, they are much more expensive. This means that students could possibly have to take a break from their studies to figure things out, and by the time they might have the resources to begin again, they won’t receive any federal economic aid, meaning that they’ll have much fewer odds of even being able to pay for their studies, to begin with. Affordable student housing isn’t negotiable for many students who live in Resi; it’s either this, or they’ll be forced to give up pursuing their degrees at UPR-RP altogether.
A generation of students who have been searching for ways to avoid debt and gain access to class mobility will be cut off from such resources and be forced to either abandon their studies or become embroiled in debt in the process. Add to this the fact that, even if debt is contracted, there aren’t enough student dorms close to Río Piedras to house the many students who would be left out on the streets. Despite the fact that one of the two emails suggests Plaza Universitaria as a viable option for student housing, everyone who lives in Resi is there precisely because they cannot afford to live in Plaza Universitaria. The fact that the administration chose to give a heads up of 9 months does not mean that students can suddenly change the gross of their incomes to be able to afford such living conditions. We can only hope that the student body and the administration are able to establish agreements to offer the students some sort of compensation or help so that they’re able to continue their studies.
ResiCampus will be closed from January of 2020 with improvements finishing approximately in October of 2021. Time will tell what becomes of the future ex-residents of the student dorm.
All images and media in this article were provided by members of HCUPR