THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 29, 1994 TAG: 9408290062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
Freshman Christine Price checked out her new place Saturday: Yup, she was going to like those creature comforts.
``A lot of my friends complained that they have no air conditioning, no carpeting, but we've got everything,'' she said.
What impressed her mother, Susanne Thoen of Manassas, was the cleanliness - and the tight security. ``The locks on everything, the cards that you even need to get on the elevator - that's my favorite part,'' Thoen said.
It was move-in day Saturday for students and parents at Christopher Newport University. Back and forth they went, lugging suitcases, stereos and crates packed with munchies into the newest dorm building in Hampton Roads, just finished this summer.
The two generations might have had different priorities, but they all liked what they saw - a microwave and fridge in each room, connecting bathroom, free cable TV and computer hookups.
It was a new experience in more ways than one for Christopher Newport. This is the first dorm building in the history of the commuter school.
For Christopher Newport - sometimes overshadowed by Old Dominion University and confused with nearby Thomas Nelson Community College - the dorm addition is the latest in a series of steps to raise its profile in Virginia. The state-supported school began offering graduate programs in 1991 and changed its name from ``college'' to ``university'' the following year.
But even after advertising the dorm in newspapers across Virginia, Christopher Newport has filled only about 210 beds - or less than half of its 430-bed capacity. The university has about 5,000 students. In contrast, Old Dominion and Norfolk State University report at least 90 percent occupancy rates in their dorms.
``We're disappointed, but it's not surprising for a first-year dorm,'' said William L. Brauer, vice president for administration and finance. ``We didn't have the dorm completed in the height of the recruiting season. When you don't have carpet or furniture, you can show it off, but you don't get a sense of the place.''
To make up for the lost revenue from empty beds, Christopher Newport will take $456,000 from a reserve fund to help pay the debt service on the $10.2 million, four-story building, Brauer said.
The school charges $4,750 a year for room and board for Virginians. That's more than most Virginia schools charge, but Christopher Newport officials said their lower-than-average tuition balances it out.
The dorm reflects universities' willingness to offer more and more fringes to lure students on-campus. NSU, for instance, last year installed cable access in its dorms, but few schools in Virginia have yet to provide microwaves.
The State Council of Higher Education, which has leaned on colleges to use all the space they can and avoid unnecessary construction, has expressed reservations about Christopher Newport's ability to finance the dorm and its recent advertizing blitz. But the council isn't complaining about the low occupancy rate.
Dorms ``have to be self-supporting,'' said Donald J. Finley, associate director of the council. ``That implies a high level of occupancy, but we don't go out and set levels - that's micromanagement.
``The assumption was they would fill it up, and I think they will in time.''
Brenda Leftwich of Williamsburg is glad her son, freshman Kevin Everett, will be one of the residents: ``This will bring a little more life to the college. One reason you live on campus is so you can have a real taste of what it's like living on your own. When they're commuting back and forth, they don't get that.''
President Anthony R. Santoro said: ``You have a more complete educational experience if you have boarders. I don't think the state council was for it or against it. They just said, `Why do you need it - you're just a commuter school?' If you can enhance the quality of life, my response is `Why not?' ''
The dorm already has helped Christopher Newport diversify its student body. Nearly half the residents are from Hampton Roads. But 44 percent are from other parts of Virginia, 6 percent from out-of-state and 2 percent from other countries (Japan and Korea).
For all the newness of the experience for the school, the move-in looked like one at any other campus:
Roommates exchanging their first tentative hellos.
Note pads on doors filling up with messages: ``Hey girl - waz up?'' ``Tara - I went out to run errands w/mom. I'll see ya when I get back. Daphne.''
And the inevitable separation of mother and child. ``Nobody else admits it, but it's scary,'' Price acknowledged.
But for the most part, the mothers were the ones dreading the goodbyes and the children aching to step into their new lives. ``I've been crying all week,'' Annie Drivas of Williamsburg said. ``I'm really going to miss him. He's been my right-hand baby sitter and my Mr. Fix-It Man for so many years.''
Yorgo Drivas, a freshman wearing an earring, a cap with the bill pointed backward and a cool attitude, said simply: ``I can't wait - it's the chance to get away.''
Maybe, Annie Drivas said, he'll get more sentimental.
Son: ``Not really.''
Mother: ``Eventually.''
Son: ``When I run out of cash flow.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by PAUL AIKEN/
Chris Taylor and his mother, Karen, juggle with a cooler while
moving Chris into the new dorm at Christopher Newport University.
The dorm, the school's first, has filled less than half of its
430-student capacity.[photo appeared on page B1]
Staff map
Area shown: Christopher Newport University
by CNB