GRADUATE GRIPES

Robert Richardson's University View apartment is the quintessential party pad. Beer flows freely all night long, even during the week. On the weekends, the living room doubles as a racquetball court, and drunken wrestling matches rage late into the early morning.

But for Richardson, a graduate student, his undergraduate roommates' revelry and rowdy nights are nothing more than roadblocks on the route to earning a master's degree in journalism.

"I don't associate much with the undergraduate lifestyle," he said. "After four years you get your fill."

Like many of his graduate student colleagues, Richardson would prefer to live among his own in Graduate Hills or Graduate Gardens, he said. But he has no choice. The university can only provide 5 percent of graduate students with housing. It's an ongoing problem that has left so many master's degree candidates frustrated, university officials now fear the housing shortage may negatively impact recruitment and the university's overall reputation.

"We want to attract the best and brightest graduate students and anything that's a deterrent becomes an obstacle to achieving that goal," Vice President of Student Affairs Linda Clement said. "And affordable housing is definitely an obstacle."

Because "graduate students contribute enormously to the intellectual life of the university community," graduate school dean Charles Caramello said. Research breakthroughs and much of the university's research funding depends on the ability to attract a strong pool of graduate students, so many officials fear competing schools that offer a better quality of life for students could affect this university's reputation.

Graduate student housing shortages date to the late '90s, when rents began to skyrocket at Graduate Hills and Graduate Gardens, Associate Director of Resident Life Jan Davidson said. Since most graduate students depend on stipends accounting for most of their income, a sharp 20 percent rise in rents hit pocketbooks hard, Davidson said.

At the same time, rents were increasing throughout the area, exacerbating graduate student demand for on-campus housing as they sought affordable housing unavailable in the College Park community, Davidson said.

Over the last five years, the overall graduate student population increased as well: 1,500 more students are now pursuing post-graduate degrees, but the housing supply has remained the same. Those factors have led graduate students to scramble to find affordable housing, and many say their concerns are only beginning to be heard.

When Laura Moore was elected Graduate Student Government President in April, she made housing her top priority after listening to graduate students complain about the 50-year-old facilities at Hills and Gardens, which had a 600 student waiting list.

The two complexes, the only grad student-only housing options the university offers, are priced about 15 percent below the average market rate in College Park according to Southern Management Corporation, at about $900 a month for a one bedroom apartment. Because of the shortage, the two buildings are popular options despite various student complaints.

Facilities have been a major concern for many residents who said when utilities break, management is often late to respond if they ever do. Earlier this semester, some residents in Gardens went days without hot water. Residents have also struggled with crime in the area, capped off by a student held at gunpoint and robbed in October.

"They never put the money where the problems are," said Kyle Gustafson, GSG vice president for student affairs. "So many graduate students want to live there that they don't have to invest anything on the properties."

Over the past two years, Davidson has worked with Southern Management Corporation, the firm that runs the Hills and Gardens, to curb rents and increase safety efforts. The average rent increase has declined, and residents are benefiting from the recent additions of blue light phones and security cameras.

But in interviews with residents, most said little significant progress has been made, and Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Mielke said university officials have yet to address the most important issue for graduate housing - space.

"We need more beds. We need more housing stock," Mielke said. "The conditions at Graduate Gardens and Graduate Hills have probably gotten a little bit better, but still we have not added more beds."

When it comes to space, however, university officials said graduate students aren't alone - lack of space is a widespread issue for the entire university.

A June report issued by the Committee on Ph.D. Completion showed 48 percent of graduate students at the university earn degrees within 10 years, compared to the national average of 60 percent. Some, such as university Assistant President and Chief of Staff Ann Wylie, said they believe housing shortages could have contribute to the low completion rate.

"Our graduate students are not happy with the circumstances that they have," Wylie said. "They've expressed that loud and clear that gets in the way of their doing their work. If our students are not able to perform, that's not a student problem, that's a university problem."

But beyond graduate students struggling to complete research, some university officials have predicted the discontent over housing could also have more long-term effects, and said it jeopardizes recruitment efforts over the long term.

"It translates into a problem for the university if other schools are solving the graduate housing problem - then we are going to appear less competitive," Mielke said. "Ultimately that's going to affect our ability to recruit."

The university does not conduct exit surveys with graduate students who gain acceptance but decide not to attend the university, as they do with undergraduates. Because of that, Moore said it's hard to know for sure how much the housing problem is deterring prospective students.

Still, anecdotal evidence suggests that students are deterred by the cost of living in College Park, Moore said. University officials also admitted that the graduate school is behind its peer intuitions in the options they offer as the universities compete for top-tier recruits.

"We are a research-one university, and to be competitive with other research-one institutions the package counts," Clement said. But when it comes to the whole package, "we are far below our peers," she said.

The University of Illinois, one of the university's five peer institutions, provides graduate housing to about 15 percent of their graduate students at costs as high as $708 a month for the apartments, said Kirsten Ruby, assistant director of housing for marketing at Illinois.

The University of California, Los Angeles can accommodate 28 percent of its graduate students since new housing complexes opened two years ago, said Angela Marciano, associate director of housing and hospitality services.

The newest housing development here, Weyburn Terrace, was opened two years ago and houses 1,380 students, and officials have already seen its effects, Marciano said. Graduate student admissions among targeted recruitment efforts are stronger because of the ability to guarantee housing,

University officials fear the opposite could happen if affordable housing options aren't expanded. In terms of affecting the research output of the university, the university is still able to recruit enough students for the graduate programs, university President Dan Mote said. However, he fears the university may see a fall off of graduate students in the future if conditions stay the same, he said.

"We're losing out before we see a drop out," Mote said. "The best students have many options and if working and living circumstances are better elsewhere, they won't come to Maryland, they'll go elsewhere."

To prevent this from happening, university officials made graduate student housing one of two top priorities in its soon to be developed East Campus project. Various proposals have called for the addition of about 450 graduate beds in affordable housing to a development that will include prime retail space.

But for graduate students growing impatient for this development, officials said they'll just have to wait.

"The only thing in motion right now is the proposal we have for East Campus," Mielke said. "That's what's most at the forefront right now."

East Campus isn't slated for completion for another five years, so students living with undergraduates like Richardson will be long gone from the university.

The ESPN college football banner that dominates his wall will be taken down, the floor littered with beer cans and pretzel crumbs will be cleaned up, and the hole his roommate punched into his wall will be repaired.

But if nothing else, Richardson hopes his experiences will serve as a reminder to university officials of the importance of graduate student housing. And for him, they will confirm a lesson his dad taught him years ago.

"It's hard to find a roommate that's better than no roommate," he said.

Contact reporters Kaitlyn Seith and Ben Slivnick at slivnickdbk@gmail.com.