Memo of Transmittal

To: The Housing Board of Directors, specifically Denise Gibbons

From: Lou Weisman
Date: March 7, 2015
Subject: Recommendation Report for the future of California Polytechnic State University on
campus housing
Attached is the recommendation report regarding the future of Cal Polys on campus housing
policy. The overall purpose of this report is to explore options for the future of Cal Poly in order
to provide the best possible environment for students academically and a proper transition to
independent living.
Recommendations
Although there are numerous options that could be proposed for Cal Polys housing policy, I
explored what I thought to be the two most feasible options. These options include:

Model the Cal Poly housing policy after University of Redlands housing policy
Modify the current Cal Poly 2018 Plan for the future of Cal Poly

Methods
In order to analyze which plan best suits Cal Poly I did first-hand research as well as looked into
second-hand research for support. My methods are as follows:

Interview with Denise Gibbons the Associate Director of Housing

Survey of current Cal Poly Freshman
University of Redlands Housing website
California Polytechnic State University Housing website
College Residence and Academic Performance: Who Benefits From Living on
Campus? (research paper)

Findings
The findings for the sources stated above can be found easily in the Results section of the
recommendation report. The breakdown and analysis of these sources that come to a final
decision can be found in the Conclusion and Recommendation sections of the report.
Proposed Recommendation
Cal Poly should consider revising the current 2018 Plan in order to establish the ideal
environment for nourishing personal growth as well as academic success. The Conclusions
section will go into further detail of the specific changes necessary to establish this environment.
If there are any outstanding questions or comments feel free to contact me.

PREPARED FOR: CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY HOUSING

ADMINISTRATION

RECOMMENDATION
REPORT ON THE FUTURE
OF ON CAMPUS HOUSING
AT CAL POLY
Prepared by: Lou Weisman

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................1
METHODS.....................................................................................................................................2
1. Interview with Denise Gibbons........................................................................................2
2. On-Campus Housing Survey...........................................................................................2
3. Ruth N. Lopz Turley and Geoffrey Wodtke College Residence and Academic

Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus? (2010).....................................2

4. California Polytechnic State University Website.............................................................2
5. University of Redlands Website.......................................................................................2

RESULTS....................................................................................................................................2-4
1. Interview with Denise Gibbons....................................................................................2-2
2. On-Campus Housing Survey...........................................................................................3
3. Ruth N. Lopz Turley and Geoffrey Wodtke College Residence and Academic

Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus? (2010).....................................3

4. California Polytechnic State University Website..........................................................3-4
5. University of Redlands Website.......................................................................................4

CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................4-6
RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................................6
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (DENISE GIBBONS).........................................7
APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONS AND GRAPHS........................................................8-9
Works Cited..................................................................................................................................10
Figures and Tables Cited.............................................................................................................11
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1 2016-2017 On Campus Housing Prices...........................................................................4

Weisman 1

INTRODUCTION
The current on-campus housing situation and future plans for California Polytechnic State
University do not provide the best possible academic environment or a proper transition to
independence for its students. Right now the living options do not live up to the learn by doing
motto that Cal Poly constantly preaches. Students do not get real-life experiences, such as
cooking and cleaning, in order to succeed in the real world. This translates into a large problem
for students living on their own after freshman year. At this point, they no longer have an
authority figure (RAs and CSDs) above them to aid them in learning these necessary skills. I
currently live on campus and feel moderately unprepared to live on my own, and there are many
people I live with that are even more unprepared to live on their own. In a survey of 185
freshmen, 33.5% do not feel like living on campus has prepared them with the skills to live off
campus (Survey: On Campus Housing).
Currently, Cal Polys housing policy requires all freshmen to live on campus unless they fall
under certain circumstances. There are two sets of apartments that students can choose to live in:
Cerro Vista and Poly Canyon Village. Aside from those two options there are three
community/dorm living situations: Towers, Red Bricks, and North Mountain.
The issue here is that a vast majority of freshmen dont have the option to live off campus but
they are forced to pay an exorbitant amount to live on campus. Students attending Cal Poly will
pay according to Figure 1 located in the Results section.
In order for students to get their moneys worth, I recommend to alter the Cal Poly 2018 Housing
Plan. According to the current plan, all freshmen are required to live in dorms their first year
with no option of apartments. Cal Poly would also encourage its sophomore year students to live
in on campus apartments to further their transition to living on their own. Instead of this, Cal
Poly should still offer apartments to the freshmen and Cal Poly should alter its infrastructure to
accommodate students (Gibbons).
With that being said, another apartment building, more centrally located to campus where Vista
Grande is located, would most likely have to be built in order to accommodate more students.
This would aid in the students learning of life skills with RAs taking a different role as a teacher
rather than a supervisor. With this plan being implemented there would have to be some
contingencies which will be talked about in the Conclusion section.
Another recommendation would be to model the on-campus housing situation for Cal Poly after
the Redlands University on-campus housing model. All undergraduates live on campus until the
completion of their bachelors degree. This eliminates the struggle to find off-campus housing
altogether as well as other benefits discussed in the Conclusion section.
I interviewed Denise Gibbons, the Associate Director of Housing and Director of Administration
& Auxiliary Services, to further understand what the housing team is doing and the new type of
housing being built right now. I also looked through scholarly articles to see if there are benefits
or negatives of living on campus. I additionally made a survey that assesses multiple aspects of
on campus housing.

Weisman 2

METHODS
In my research I rely a lot on primary resources for the sake that the problem is for the students
of Cal Poly and I mainly want information pertaining to Cal Poly specifically. It is an issue that
directly affects me and around 5000 freshmen every year. Not to mention, I have access to many
resources, including primary research methods that are the most current information and most
relevant to my campus.
Primary Resources
Interview with Denise Gibbons
To get an inside look at housing I interviewed Denise Gibbons, Associate Director of Housing,
Director of Administration & Auxiliary Services. I compiled a list of questions to assess the
current housing situation from Ms. Gibbons standpoint, which can be found in the Appendix
A at the end of this report.
On-Campus Housing Survey
I conducted a survey of 185 Cal Poly freshmen and asked them questions about their current
housing situation. I only interviewed current freshmen in order to get the most relevant
information. Graphs and questions can be found in the Appendix B.
Secondary Resources
Ruth N. Lopz Turley and Geoffrey Wodtke College Residence and Academic
Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus? (2010)
This peer-reviewed article is a study done by Ruth N. Lopz Turley and Geoffrey Wodtke to see
if living on campus has any real effect on GPA and overall academic performance.
California Polytechnic State University Website
The Cal Poly website offers information about university housing. It also provides greater detail
about the housing structures themselves and provides housing prices.
University of Redlands Website
The University of Redlands website offers an overview of the housing situation and how it
works.
RESULTS
Primary Resources

Weisman 3

Interview with Denise Gibbons

After talking to Denise Gibbons, I learned a lot more about Cal Polys plans for the future. The
new structure that is being built by the Performing Arts Center is a residence hall type of living.
Students living in the residence halls and apartments have similar GPAs but being involved with
activities outside of academics is more heavily seen in the residence halls. Cal Polys vision is to
have students live on campus for two years first in the residence halls then the apartments to help
students transition from adolescence to adulthood.
There has been talk about renovating some of the old space in the current dorms. One major
project is to remove three-person rooms in the red brick dorms which Cal Poly plans on doing
with the construction of the new housing structure by the Performing Arts Center. But there has
been no talk about adding more kitchens, air conditioning in any of the dorms, or adding a
grocery store on campus that would be incorporated into the plus dollar system.
On-Campus Housing Survey
After conducting this survey of 185 freshmen I found that roughly 38% of the residents surveyed
would rate their overall experience of living on campus three or less on a scale from one to five
with five being really enjoyable. Only about 15.1% of students rate their experience a 5.
Approximately 33.5% of students dont feel like the dorms have provided them with the
resources or experience necessary to live off campus in following years. People were allowed to
list common complaints, some of the most popular complaints were: not knowing how to cook,
not knowing how to clean, and little to no info about making the next step for living on their
own. 64.3% of students have a difficult time getting groceries and 16.3% cant even get
groceries. 46% of residents dont have a place to store their groceries. There are graphs and
questions located in the Appendix B section for further information.
Secondary Resources
Ruth N. Lopz Turley and Geoffrey Wodtke College Residence and Academic
Performance: Who Benefits From Living on Campus? (2010)
According to this study whether you live on or off campus has very little to do with academic
success. College Residence and Academic Performance goes on to point out there is no
control group to compare freshman living on and off campus. Therefore it is hard to say what the
potential higher academic success can be attributed to. The correlation that much research uses is
from varying institutions so it more depends on the specific institution and how they execute the
on campus living experience.
However students living on campus tend to be more involved with on campus clubs and interact
with faculty more since it is more convenient. The social situation can end up taking over some
students and making it harder for them to succeed. College Residence and Academic
Performance states that Learning Living Communities (LLCs) are living situations where
there is a social scene but there is also on call staff and study sessions are held.
California Polytechnic State University Website
This website provided prices of living on campus. According to the Figure 1 students that live on

Weisman 4
campus pay the following to live on campus.

Figure 1 Attained from the Cal Poly Housing website

That means that a double in a residence hall is $818/month, a triple in the residence halls is
$655/month, a private bedroom in an apartment is $946/month, a shared bedroom in an
apartment is $757/month, and an apartment double suite is $605/month.1
University of Redlands Website
The University of Redlands website offers the dining options as well as the different living
options for their students. At Redlands University all students must live on campus for the
duration of their undergraduate degree, which separates Redlands from most other colleges and
universities. The overall goal of Redlands housing is to really develop a sense of community.
Pricing for on campus housing will be listed in the Conclusion section.
CONCLUSION
The two potential solutions to fix Cal Polys housing problem are to alter the Cal Poly 2018
Housing Plan or to model our system off Redlands University housing system.
The Redlands University housing policy is that all undergraduates must live on campus.
Although there are many benefits to this model, one most important advantages is the sense of
community the Redlands policy develops for its students. Not to mention, freshmen get
integrated with older students quickly and no one has to worry about finding housing. Being on
campus also helps foster a better learning environment and helps students get more involved on
campus, which in turn can lead to academic success. Unfortunately, it can also lead to a students
demise or their hate for Redlands.
Not every student is meant or wants to get involved with organizations on campus and there is no
need to force it. Freshmen across America at other universities, whom generally make freshmen
live on campus, get too wrapped up in the social scene.
Contrary to popular belief, college students place of residence does not seem to have a
significant effect on 1st-year grades for most students (Turley and Wodtke). But there are
specific ways to fix this.

1 all rents are calculated on a nine month lease because students arent allowed to live on campus during the
summer and winter break

Weisman 5
College is already a financial burden for many and having undergraduates pay $7,166-13,582 per
academic year is just too much. And thats not including the mandatory dining plan which then
changes the range to $10,426-$17,912 (Redlands: Student Life). Therefore, this is just a money
maker for Redlands furthering the reason that Cal Poly needs to alter their current 2018 housing
plan.
Since students do live on campus their first year, and should, they should at least get their
moneys worth especially paying between $605-945/month which is generally higher than offcampus rent (Figure 1).
According to the Cal Poly 2018 Housing Plan, the goal is to have all freshmen live in dorms and
then second-year students live in the on-campus apartments, not allowing any freshmen the
option of living in apartments (Gibbons). Cal Poly is doing this to help students transition to
living on their own. Although Cal Poly seems to have its students best interests in mind there is
one major flaw; not every student needs this slow of a transition. Everyone comes into college at
a different point of independence. If a freshman feels as if they are ready to jump right into an
apartment, then they should be able to. It does not make sense to hold freshmen back.
One aspect that should be executed from the 2018 Plan is the de-tripling, getting rid of triple
rooms, in the red brick dorms. Speaking as someone that currently lives in them, there isnt
enough room for three people. It is also unfair that the doubles in the red bricks have same size
rooms and pay less than $200/month more. Plus, the average enjoyment of living in a triple in
the red bricks is 3.46 out of five according to my survey (Survey: On Campus Housing). But,
students of my survey enjoyed living in the on-campus apartments less than even in a triple red
brick room (Survey: On Campus Housing).
There are two main concerns of living in Poly Canyon Village and Cerro Vista apartment
complexes: groceries and location. Currently Cal Poly offers two grocery stores: campus
market and village market. But 68.6% of people living in the apartments report it being difficult
or impossible to get groceries (Survey: On Campus Housing). To help this situation Cal Poly
should create an actual grocery store incorporated into the plus dollar system. Not a single person
living in either apartment complexes said no when asked if they wanted an actual grocery store
on campus, and only one person out of the 185 freshmen surveyed said no to the on-campus
grocery store (Survey: On Campus Housing).
The second problem is the location. Both apartment complexes are fairly secluded from the rest
of campus causing students to feel excluded from campus. Another apartment complex should be
built that is more centrally located to campus. While this may seem like a small issue it creates a
chain reaction detrimental to a students academic performance: residence halls, when
structured appropriately, can have a positive influence on both academic involvement and

Weisman 6
performance (Turley and Wodtke). The correct structure is Learning Living Communities
(LLCs)2 which Cal Poly offers (Cal Poly: University Housing).
This plan would incorporate Cal Polys learn by doing model as well as providing the best
possible housing situation as far as enjoyment of living and academic success.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend Cal Poly alter its on-campus living infrastructure and policy in order to increase the
overall enjoyment of living on campus, accommodate students individually for the transition to
independence, and provide an environment to enhance academic success.

2 residence halls designed to promote the academic integration of students. Several common
features of LLCs include on-site faculty lectures and office hours, noncredit seminars, advising
office hours, cultural events, and courses attended by student housing groups (Turley and
Wodtke, 2010).

Weisman 7

APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (DENISE GIBBONS)

The following is a list of questions I presented to Denise Gibbons, not all the information I
received was strictly from these questions as we actually had a discussion and more questions
were brought up. Denise Gibbons is the Associate Director of Housing and the Director of
Administration & Auxiliary Services.

1. There is construction going on to create a new housing facility near the Performing
Arts Center, what kind of living situation will this be? (apartment, community living,
etc.)

2. What are the future plans being discussed for Cal Poly Housing?

3. Is there any research that one type of living environment is more beneficial than
another?

4. Has there been any talks about making changes to the current living infrastructure?

5. Since Cal Poly is an ever-growing university what is the plan to accommodate with the
high influx of freshman?

6. Has there been any efforts to improve the access to groceries on campus?

Weisman 8
7. Has there been any talk about having triple exclusive rooms? (rooms that are bigger to
accommodate for the one extra person)

8. Has there been any talk about getting rid of community living entirely and make
everything an apartment for a more learn by doing living situation?

APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONS AND GRAPHS

The following survey was made using google forms and was administered only to Cal Poly
freshman via the Cal Poly SLO Class of 2019 Facebook group. The questions are as follows:
1. What dorms do you live?
2. How many roommates do you live with?

Weisman 9

3. How satisfied are you with your current living situation? (1-5 scale)
4. Do you think living on campus has provided you with the resources/experience
necessary to live off campus?
4.1. If not why?
5. What are some problems you deal with living on campus? (list of common issues and
other option provided)
6. Would you be interested in an actual on campus grocery store that would be
incorporated into the plus dollar system?
7. Would you be interested in every dorm being an apartment?
8. Is there anything you would like to see in the future for Cal Poly Housing?

Weisman 10

Weisman 11
Works Cited
Gibbons, Denise. "Interview with Denise Gibbons." Personal interview. 1 Mar. 2016.
"Student Housing." University Housing. California Polytechnic State University. Web. 2 Mar.
2016.
"Student Life: Residence Life and Housing." University of Redlands. University of Redlands.
Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
Turley, Ruth N. Lopez, and Geoffrey Wodtke. "College Residence and Academic Performance:
Who Benefits From Living on Campus?" Urban Education 45.4 (2010): 506-32. Sage
Journals. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
Weisman, Lou. On-Campus Housing. Survey. Google Forms. 27 February 2016. Web.

Weisman 12
Figures and Tables Cited
Figure 1. Freshman Housing & Dining Fees | 2016-17. 15 January, 2016.