The sign outside of the plot where the housing is going to be built
Morgan Kilger/The Bona Venture
BY: MORGAN KILGER, NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University graduate housing is planned to be built across from Francis Hall, creating additional options for graduate students.
“We never envisioned a graduate housing problem,” said Tom Missel, Bonaventure’s chief communications officer. “After some feedback once the [health professions] programs started, there was a need for graduate housing.”
Since its introduction in 2016, Bonaventure’s Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions has continued to attract graduate students from across the country. However, many of those students recalled a scramble to find off-campus housing to avoid Bonaventure’s cramped dorm halls or worse — being left without housing.
The School of Health Professions calls Francis Hall, located on the east side of Bonaventure’s campus, its home. Graduate students within the school spend most-or-all of their learning time in Francis Hall. Missel said that influenced the university’s decision to build the graduate-housing building in the open field north of Francis.
“When we developed the graduate programs in health professions, we came to realize that off-campus housing was limited for students who didn’t want to live in undergraduate housing,” said Missel.
Missel said that In 2021 he and representatives in Bonaventure’s Residence Life department learned that graduate students were largely unhappy with their housing situations. He also said the housing process is different for graduate students compared to undergraduate students.
“I am okay with where I am at right now, but I do wish I knew more of the graduate students living on campus,” said Alise Kaplan, first-year graduate student in Bonaventure’s School of Health Professions. “I wish we weren’t so scattered.”
Kaplan, like many other graduate students, currently lives in one of Bonaventure’s many on-campus residence halls, such as Devereux or Francis halls. Some other graduate students live in off-campus housing.
“I’m currently living in Francis Hall right now,” said Kaplan, “I like it so far because it’s a mix of undergraduate and graduate students.”
The new graduate-housing building, set to be built in the field north of the Gardens Apartments and Francis, will contain 44 beds and a mixture of single and double rooms. The complex will house up to 42 students with two apartments reserved for professors or guest speakers visiting campus. Each room, regardless of maximum occupancy, will also have a private bathroom.
Missel said no additional parking would accompany the construction of the graduate-housing complex.
“I think more than anything, this will help recruit more students,” said Missel. “Graduate housing will be an attractor for people to come [to Bonaventure].”
The construction of the complex will start fall 2023, and is expected to be completed during fall 2025.
kilgermi22@bonaventure.edu
