‘On-Campus’ Housing, Not Close Enough

The Howard Johnson Hotel located on 111 West Fortune Street has provided rooms for University of Tampa students for more than a decade.

Dorms fill up fast at UT. When they do, Resident Life assigns those students who sign up last for on-campus housing to live at the Howard Johnson hotel down the street.

“We love working with the University of Tampa,” hotel manager Richard Marco said. “UT has been doing business with us for longer than I’ve been manager and I don’t anticipate changing that.”

How do students like living in the hotel?

There are several pros and cons about living in the Howard Johnson, but the question is which outweighs the other.

This semester 302 students and 12 Resident Assistants [RA] inhabit 6 1/2 floors of the Howard Johnson Hotel.

When asked what it was like to have 300 college kids living in his hotel Marco said, “There is the occasional noise complaint from our traveling visitors, but that is expected when any large group stays here for an extended time. The Resident Assistants typically take care of any problems regarding student behavior.”

In previous years when there were fewer students living in the hotel, they often felt isolated from the rest of the university and cheated out of their full college experience.

Howard Johnson RA Amanda Sieradzki claims that isolation is no longer a complaint from most of her residents and that there are several positive aspects of living in the hotel.

“It’s easy for the Howard Johnson residents to get to know each other,” Sieradzki said. “It’s kind of like its own community.”

Each room in the Howard Johnson houses two students.

Residents’ rooms include queen size beds, a TV, bathroom, table with chairs and a dresser.

Freshman Secondary Math Education major Kailee Moshinsky says that her favorite thing about living in the Howard Johnson is the housekeeping.

“Housekeeping comes two times a week to make the beds, clean the bathroom, vacuum the floor (if it is cleared) and change the sheets if needed,” Marco explained. “I also like that I didn’t have to buy any sheets, towels or even a TV. So that’s saving me a lot of money,” Moshinsky said.

With the amenities that the Howard Johnson provides, could the cons make living at the hotel unbearable?

The obvious reasoning behind a “yes” to that question are that Howard Johnson residents are in fact, off-campus, despite the fact that they pay for on-campus housing.

They don’t get to go anywhere spontaneously unless they have their own car.

If they don’t, each student must rely on a shuttle bus to drive them to and from campus if they wish to attend class, visit friends or eat.
Moshinsky said, “Sometimes I have to wait over twenty minutes for the bus.”

This may cause Howard Johnson residents to be late for class or exams, which could affect them academically.

There are one to two shuttles that run the route simultaneously.

The shuttles arrive on campus approximately every fifteen minutes, depending on its schedule that day:

If students are on campus after hours, UT security is available to drive them back to the hotel.

So is living at the Howard Johnson worth the amenities despite its inconveniences?

That’s for its residents to decide.

Last fall 260 students moved into the Howard Johnson.

By Feb. 8, 2010 each resident was relocated to on campus housing.

With so many students living in the hotel this year, will moving on campus be an option for all Howard Johnson residents?

Resident Life Director Krystal Schofield said, “As space opens up on campus we’ll begin moving the students out of the hotel.”

Open room change is Sept. 10-17 for students who wish to move into another dorm.

The selection process is determined by class and on a first-come first-serve basis.

Josh Napier can be reached at joshua.napier90@gmail.com.