Doyle Hall
David Scibilia/The Bona Venture
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, NEWS EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University’s residence halls are at 98% capacity. There are currently no plans to build more undergraduate housing, but the university is in the process of building graduate housing, said Ursula Herz, Bonaventure’s director of Residence Life.
“It’s a general rule for any kind of housing construction that you have to be over 100% for four years before it is financially viable to build more housing,” said Herz. “We don’t want to build a $50 million building for a year and then have it sit empty.”
There is one triple — a room that houses three students — in Doyle Hall while all other rooms are doubles — a room that houses two students. All of Doyle’s rooms measure approximately 17 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 8 inches, according to Bonaventure’s website.
The other main freshman dorms — Falconio and Robinson halls — measure approximately 17 feet 4 inches by 10 feet 10 inches. There are no plans to convert rooms in these buildings to triples, said Herz.
“The Doyle rooms are big enough for three people,” Grant Giunchi, a freshman undeclared communications major who lives in the Doyle triple, said. “I think it’s up to the school on whether or not they make more triples. I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy, so I like it, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.”
The university is prepared to convert more Doyle Hall rooms into triples, if needed.
“[The university] bought new furniture that can be lofted that greatly increases floor space,” said Herz. “[The university] also bought stackable dressers. This way, they can slide under beds and not take up space in the dorm.”
Triples are meant to be a temporary measure.
“Only a portion of Doyle rooms will be tripled and those that are, will not be permanent,” said Herz. “[They] will be de-tripled as spaces become available from students who do not show up [or] withdraw soon after arriving.”
Herz said there are also plans to renovate the bathrooms in Doyle Hall, so they will be able to better serve an unspecified increased number of students living there.
“If we’re going to have triples, we need to renovate the bathrooms,” said Herz. “But then we run into the issue of balancing rooms and bathrooms. If we want to renovate and increase [the number of bathrooms], we have to take away rooms.”
The university is also prepared to turn the corner rooms in Devereux Hall into triples, if needed.
Devereux Hall is Bonaventure’s largest stand-alone residence hall, housing 282 students. The university is prepared to turn the 15 corner rooms in Devereux Hall into triples, if needed.
“The corner rooms in [Devereux Hall] are huge,” said Herz. “They can easily be made triples — especially with the new furniture that we got.”
Freshmen will not be able to opt in or out of triples, said Herz.
Those who live in triples are expected to pay the same as those who live in doubles.
“There is currently no triple rate,” said Herz. “The Business Office has this on its agenda with the board of trustees, though.”
Bonaventure broke ground on a 42-bed graduate housing building across from Francis Hall in September. The building is expected to be completed in fall of 2025. Although mostly aimed toward graduate students in Bonaventure’s School of Health Professions, any graduate student will be able to apply for housing there, said Herz.
If this building does not fill with graduate students, some undergraduate students may be able to apply for housing in this new building.
“We have a number of students who took a study abroad for two semesters, and now they’re in their fifth year here, and we have a number of older undergrads as well,” said Herz. “These students would get first pick if the building doesn’t fill with grad students.”
scibild22@bonaventure.edu
