Bob Jones University will begin opening two of its residence halls to students who are staying in Greenville for all or part of the summer.
This summer residency program will begin for the summer of 2019, and students will be able to rent the rooms at a reasonable rate. Nathan Washer, assistant to chief enrollment officer Dr. Bobby Wood, helped to organize this residence hall project. “[Dr. Wood] was interested in using our residence halls from the school side of things as a way to have a little bit of income generation during the summer,” Washer said. “[Wood] realized that there were students who have jobs or internships going on through the summer.”
Similar to how the Campus View Apartments (CVA) complex operates with faculty and staff, students who stay in the residence halls during the summer can expect two people to a room. Each person will pay $70 per week. However, anyone wishing to have his or her own room can pay $140 to cover the spots of both people. In addition to the room, rent includes internet access, laundry, security and 24×7 key card access to the residence hall.
Student life staff will not be involved in the residence halls during the summer as they are during the academic year. “We want this to be home away from home,” Washer said. “It’s a place to stay.” The summer housing application, resident information (expectations for living on campus) and a housing agreement can be found on the BJU intranet.
The residence halls are available for summer rent beginning May 4, through Aug. 17. This summer housing opportunity is open to incoming students, current students, graduate assistants and seniors who just graduated. Wood estimates that at least 100 to 120 students will take advantage of this opportunity.
One men’s residence hall and one women’s residence hall will be used each summer on a rotational basis to allow for maintenance on the other residence halls. If students who are enrolled in the summer residency program decide to leave for a week during the summer, they can store their belongings in their rooms by continuing to pay rent for that week.
Students who wish to leave for a few weeks during the summer but plan to return may move out all their belongings and pay a $25 checkout fee. When they return, they will be assigned a new room. Students will be responsible for covering the cost of their own meals over the summer. However, Aramark is finalizing summer meal packages.
During the last two weeks of the summer, students who are enrolled in the summer residency program will transition back into BJU’s residence hall guidelines. They will also move to their assigned rooms for the academic year and will continue to purchase their own meals. For those not taking fall classes, their rental period will end Aug. 3.
Wood said this program will allow students to have a productive summer while still saving money for the academic year. “Many students also benefit spiritually from the community of friends that BJU provides, so we believe making this available during the summer could also be a spiritual blessing,” Wood said. According to Washer, students are unlikely to find such a reasonable rent anywhere else in Greenville and should consider the valuable opportunity of making the residence halls their summer homes.
