OU to Build Residential Colleges for Upperclassmen Students

[whenhen]

<p><a href=“http://newsok.com/university-of-oklahoma-to-build-residential-colleges/article/4985543/?page=1”>http://newsok.com/university-of-oklahoma-to-build-residential-colleges/article/4985543/?page=1&lt;/a&gt;

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma is introducing something completely new to campus: residential colleges…</p>

<p>The new colleges will be open to sophomore, junior, and senior students, to encourage more upperclassmen to live on campus. Most freshmen live on campus because of university regulations, but many move away after their initial year…</p>

<p>…The university has obtained lead private gifts to fund the first two residential colleges, Boren said.</p>

<p>“We hope to build four over the next three to four years, but we’ll start with two,” he said.</p>

<p>The project is in the early planning phase. No location or start date for the construction has been selected. However, Nash said the buildings will be located within the current residence hall area on campus

</p>

<p>I’m glad to see OU will be constructing more on campus upperclassman housing rather than relegating the few students who choose to remain on campus after their freshmen year to some of the worst dorms. However, it is my understanding that residential colleges at schools like Rice and Yale house students for all four years, rather than at most three. It will be interesting to see how effectively these on campus housing options work, as well as if students will even go for them (as of right now, it’s far less expensive to rent a fully furnished apartment in a student housing complex than it is to get even a crappy dorm in Cate). </p>

<p>If the plan succeeds, I suspect it will also increase sales around Campus Corner since more students are staying around campus longer. </p>

[allyphoe]

<p>Yale frosh mostly live on Old Campus, not in their residential college.</p>

[Torveaux]

<p>Interesting. Residential colleges could be a great idea. If they are not starting right away, I doubt it will be of any use to the current students.</p>

[3scoutsmom]

<p>Thanks for the info! My D is high school class of 2016 so this may be an option for her. Do you think they can have a new dorm building done in three years? Any idea how long it took them to go from concept to completion on the new sports dorm?</p>

[whenhen]

<p>@allyphoe‌ thanks for the correction. </p>

<p>@3scoutsmom‌ According to this [url=&lt;a href=“https://www.oufoundation.org/SM2/Fall2013/story/Standing_Tall_and_Proud]article[/url”&gt;https://www.oufoundation.org/SM2/Fall2013/story/Standing_Tall_and_Proud]article[/url</a>], it took 28 months to build Headington Hall (OU’s athletic dorm). However, I suspect the actual fund raising and planning took longer. </p>

[sunnydayfun]

Update on the two new residential colleges that will begin construction shortly and open Fall 2017.

http://www.oudaily.com/news/president-boren-announces-keith-gaddie-as-one-of-the-first/article_6bc551de-d24f-11e4-a1f5-93b31748db14.html

[3scoutsmom]

OU President David Boren said will open Fall 2017.

This is perfect timing for my daughter! I wonder how much it will cost relative to the Towers and Headington Hall?

@sunnydayfun - Thanks for keeping us updated!