LI colleges create new dorms, but demand outstrips supply at some schools

From a converted hotel in Jericho that houses more than 70 students to an academic village with gender-inclusive housing, Long Island colleges and universities have started the fall term with several new initiatives for on-campus living.

But challenges remain. A handful of schools have wait lists for students who want to live on campus, including Stony Brook University, where the impact from a late August storm knocked out two dormitories. Also, college room and board costs — like other expenses related to higher education — have jumped in recent years.

Still, educators and students say living on campus is part of a higher education experience.

"When you are living on campus, you get to meet a new community of people who are sharing that same journey and you can formulate relationships that can last a lifetime," said Randall Edouard, SUNY Old Westbury’s vice president of student affairs.

At SUNY Old Westbury, there are nearly 720 students in residence halls this fall term — compared with about 475 students who lived on campus two years ago, Edouard said. The school, which has an overall undergraduate enrollment of 4,450, has stepped up marketing about campus living. The school, which serves mostly commuter students, has its largest ever freshman class, with more than 800 students enrolled this fall.

The Office of Residential Life created five "community living initiatives" this year, including gender-inclusive housing open to LGBTQ students and others regardless of gender identity. Other housing options include residences for students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), scholar-athlete housing or a Social and Environmental Justice Institute.

Softball player Madison Danin, 21, of Miller Place, picked the scholar-athlete housing. 

"It's a way better opportunity for us as student-athletes to be together," said Danin, a senior majoring in public health.

The school also is trying to grow interest in Greek Life with new fraternity and sorority housing.

"Historically, SUNY Old Westbury was not known for really having a robust fraternity and sorority life on campus," Edouard said. "It exists now, but it is small and we are trying to grow."

The school also plans to open another hall likely next year, he said.

"We are on an upward trend and ... we want to maintain this momentum," he said.

Officials with the SUNY system said that statewide, nearly 68,000 students lived on the system’s 64 campuses in 2023. The typical room and board cost for the 2024-25 academic year for undergraduates at the four-year SUNY campuses is about $16,340, according to SUNY. In 2014-15, the average room and board cost was a little more than $12,000, according to a 2015 SUNY financial report.

At four-year nonprofit private colleges nationwide, the cost of room and board ran $14,650 in 2023-24 and $10,283 10 years prior, according to the College Board.

Carlos Argueta, 18, a freshman studying Spanish Literature at SUNY Old Westbury, said living at home saves money and he doesn't mind commuting from Bay Shore. 

"It's easier for me to work and come at the school at the same time," said Argueta, who works as a server. He said he may live on campus in later years.

For many students, living on campus represents a first step toward independence while participating in a sense of community.

Kachi Akubue, 20, of Los Angeles, is a resident assistant at New York Institute of Technology's newest student housing, Jericho Residence Hall, which opened in August. It's her first time living on campus.

The new residence hall is located in a former Hampton Inn in Jericho. There’s an indoor pool, fitness center, social spaces and laundry room. It can house 188 students.

The dorm opened at the end of August, and they already have hosted movie nights and pool parties, said Akubue, who is majoring in electrical and computer engineering technology. "I am used to living on my own, but this is my first living with other students together," Akubue said. "Seeing the same faces everyday — it's kind of a different bond. We know each other on a more personal level."

Students take a free shuttle to campus, which is about 10 to 15 minutes away. Double occupancy runs $10,400 per semester and $9,400 for a triple.

New York Tech’s Old Westbury campus has never had its own residence hall, though the college had provided student housing on the SUNY Old Westbury campus for more than a dozen years. Since 2021, the school has rented rooms for some of its 2,500 students at a nearby hotel.

The new permanent home just for New York Tech students will "increase the sense of belonging and the sense of identity for students that are going to choose to live there. And I think it expands the opportunity for more out-of-state students, too, that would consider coming to our school," said Felipe Henao, dean of students.

Move-in day at Stony Brook University was delayed by nearly a week for many in August when a strong storm flooded parts of campus, including two dorms that remain unoccupied. Before the start of school, the university already had been dealing with an increased demand and had instituted a "radius policy" in June.

That meant accepted students who lived within a 30-mile radius had their housing canceled and their deposits refunded as they were placed on a waiting list. About 300 first-year students were initially impacted, but all were eventually given a housing assignment, university officials confirmed. A total of 145 new transfers were affected and 60 who joined the waiting list were then given a housing assignment as space became available in the summer.

More than 10,500 students live on-campus — including about 77% who are first year, said Catherine-Mary Rivera, assistant vice president of campus residences. The fall term started with about 900 students on a housing wait list and that number is down to about 320, she said Thursday.

After the strong storm hit the campus, the university increased its number of triple rooms, offered a housing cancellation bonus to students and moved some students to a nearby hotel.

Before the flooding, 274 rooms were tripled — a total of 822 residents. Afterward, that number increased to more than 420 rooms, for a total of 1,278 residents. Students receive a discount on housing up to 15% for having to share a room with two others.

A total of 55 students took a $5,000 bonus that was offered by the university to cancel their housing after the storm in order to increase capacity, Rivera said.

The university will open a new residence building in 2027 in the Tabler community for returning undergraduate students. And, the school has been piloting a discount triple program this year in which students who triple in a room receive a discount. That's different from a temporary triple as each student has a full complement of furniture.

"A big incentive is it actually helps increase access for those who find it may be more of a financial burden to live on campus," Rivera said.

The school has added more than 1,100 beds to campus within the past eight years.

"People used to think of Stony Brook as a commuter school and I feel that I still sometimes hear that assumption, but more than 50% of the undergraduate populations live on campus and about 25% of graduate students do," Rivera said. "So, by no means does this tell me it's a commuter school.

"We still have many, many students who are in a commutable distance and say that this is the experience they want."

Demand has been high at other local schools, too. Farmingdale State College has three residence halls with 570 beds and a wait list of about 50 students, officials there said. Molloy University has a housing wait list for the second year in a row, according to the school.

Farmingdale also completed a renovation of Dewey Hall.

At Hofstra University, about 2,700 students are living on campus and several improvements have been made, including adding outdoor furniture near the high-rise residential halls and a game room and movie theater at the graduate residence hall.

By Joie Tyrrell

joie.tyrrell@newsday.com@JoieTyrrell

Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.