The Northern New Mexico College Board of Regents will decide Dec. 19, whether to put student housing on the fast track. Since dorm discussion began, August 2014 has been the target opening date of the residence hall. However, construction is dependent on students filling the dorm — and with only 43 surveys returned from a student body of 1,681 — it is questionable whether the college can do that.
The Board signed an agreement Sept. 30, for preliminary development assessment, with Indiana-based collegiate housing firm Monument LLC, for $336,450. Monument presented the preliminary development study to the Board Nov. 21.
Part of the study was a campus-wide survey, developed by Monument and distributed with the help of Northern’s administration. Monument’s marketing analysis portion of the study ends with, “After reviewing the student surveys, interviewing administration, conducting focus groups, and reviewing competing schools. [sic] Monument acknowledges an immense opportunity for growth at NNMC by adding student housing. It is very evident that there is a demand, and the student support is overwhelming.”
Yet, Monument received 43 student surveys back — a 2.5 percent return from the student body of 1,681 full- and part-time students.
“What I know is, a survey is one tool out of many tools to determine if a college needs housing,” Monument President Tim Pitcher said in a Dec. 16 interview.
During the student senate meeting Dec. 6, Senate President Joel Martinez said many students did not want to complete the survey because they did not want to give their name and because they’re was no place on the survey for negative feedback.
“I saw people stop in the middle of a survey and walk away,” Martinez said.
He said he did complete the survey, as did most of the student senate. Some of the members also helped conduct the survey, having iPads available for the students to complete it online.
Northern’s athletic director and point man for the student housing project, Ryan Cordova, said he did get a lot of positive feedback from recruitment trips, which were headed by the Director for Recruitment and Career Services Frank Orona. Cordova said the survey did not have any space for students to leave negative feedback because neither he nor the college were interested in hearing negative feedback.
“We wanted to get feedback, but we’re not recording negative feedback. If they don’t want to live there and fill out the survey, then don’t. This is an opportunity to live on campus. If they choose not to do that, that’s their choice,” Cordova said.
In addition to the student survey, Pitcher said every college has an “inherent need” for student housing.
“Every college has a certain need for housing, automatically,” Pitcher said.
This need includes students growing up and wanting to move out of their house and students wanting to live closer to campus to save money on gas and save time on the commute, he said.
“There are also environmental factors. There is no safe housing in the Española area,” Pitcher said.
Besides these factors, during focus groups and one-on-one conversations, students expressed lots of enthusiasm for on-campus housing, Pitcher said. He said students approached him directly and expressed a great interest in housing.
However, getting a 2.5 percent return from student surveys is such a scant response, other development firms would hesitate to continue with the project. Kenneth McHugh, president and CEO of the development firm Institutional Project Management and Amicus Groups (IMP-Amicus) out of Chicago, Ill., said he would not move forward with the project if his firm only got a 2.5 percent feedback on the student survey.
“If we can get 10 to 15 percent, then we have a statistically sound sample,” McHugh said in a Dec. 10 interview.
To ensure this much feedback, an iPod will be given to a randomly-selected student who responds to the survey, McHugh said. If there is not a 10 to 15 percent survey response, IMP-Amicus will send intercepts, people on campus with clipboards, to conduct in-person interviews.
McHugh is familiar with the situation at Northern. His firm responded to a 2008 request for proposal put out by Northern for a firm to develop student dormitories, he said. A request for proposal is a bidding process in which companies are selected according to evaluation criteria, not limited to the lowest-priced bid. McHugh’s firm had initially been chosen for the project, but Northern’s Board of Regent’s rescinded the choice to reopen the bidding process.
“We were first selected and then unselected,” McHugh said.
In preparation for the proposal, IMP-Amicus prepared an analysis which was never used, he said.
“Ultimately, we ended up suing the college and then dismissed the case because the distance was too far,” McHugh said.
Cordova, though, agrees with Pitcher, and said the feedback from the students was sufficient. Cordova said the college attempted to send out the survey in a few different ways. One way was sending it to students’ email accounts with the college, but a lot of the students don’t use this email account, he said.
“It’s very hard to get a lot of students to participate, which is unfortunate,” Cordova said.
However, beyond the survey, Northern’s Student Senate had more concerns.
Student Senate Vice President Samuel Ledoux said his constituents are most concerned with one question: will the dorms raise tuition? Ledoux said when he first started attending Northern in 2010, they said there would already be dorms, but that still hasn’t happened. However, with the raise in fees and tuition last summer, Ledoux said many of his constituents are concerned with another tuition increase, which would make it so they could not afford college.
Northern’s tuition last year, for one academic year at an in-state price, was $3,470. This summer, it was raised to $4,060. While still less than New Mexico State University at $6,708 and University of New Mexico at $6,447, the tuition is on par with Eastern New Mexico University, $4,550 and Western New Mexico University, $4,723. However, New Mexico Highlands University is still less at $4,000 per year.
Martinez said when Northern is compared to a university, it’s misleading. The services offered at a university far surpass what Northern currently offers.
Northern student Arturo Baeza agreed, dorms were a good idea, but he was not sure if the college was ready.
“Us students are tired and frustrated. We all believe in Northern or we wouldn’t be here, but we want answers,” Martinez said.
Martinez said there was a general consensus from the student population regarding the dorms.
“Yes, the dorms are a good idea, but there is too much uncertainty,” Martinez said.
Martinez said oftentimes, the college administration responds to the students with slipshod answers that circumvent the question, rather than give detailed information.
Student Senate Secretary Lita Owen said the college may be moving too quickly, looking to build housing. Owen said Northern is not yet a university, so it should not be comparable to other universities in New Mexico.
“In the end, it comes down to the name. If I’m paying the same rate as a university, I’m going to want a degree that says university,” Martinez said.
Cordova said he could not say tuition would not increase; however, tuition would not increase due to the building of student housing.
“Housing will not affect tuition,” Cordova said, and then repeated the statement.
He said when Northern constructs a new building, it does not force tuition up. He said neither have a bearing on the other. If tuition rises with buildings, it is only coincidence.
“This is about where Northern is going, to be able to provide an opportunity for current and potential students,” Cordova said.
The rent collected from student housing will pay for the new housing, Cordova said. At this time, the rent will be $4,400 per academic year and will include a furnished room, bathroom, utilities, wireless Internet and laundry.