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A room full of second-, third- and fourth-year students, looking to leave traditional residence halls behind for greater independence, gathered in the Woolley Room of the University of Maine’s DTAV Community Center on Monday to learn more about apartments available in the Doris Twitchell Allen Village and Patch Hall.
DTAV and Patch offer apartment-style living with the convenience of living on the UMaine campus. Patch offers only four-person suites while DTAV includes four-, five- and six-person units in various combinations of double or single rooms.
Patch apartments have the advantage of an oven, while DTAV kitchens only have a stovetop. The two buildings are subject to a different, and separate, assignment process from the other residence halls on campus.
Students must apply in groups of four to six and must meet the community’s eligibility requirements — 40 completed credit hours by the previous December and prior occupation of a UMaine residence hall. The residency restrictions for Patch and DTAV are in place because this community is a privilege for dedicated students who can handle the responsibility.
“We do a lot less hand-holding around here,” said Jennifer Boynton-Allen, the Assistant Director for Residence Life and Community Coordinator for DTAV / Patch. “This is not [First-Year Experience], this is very much upper-class housing.”
Applications for DTAV and Patch are due to Housing Services by March 21 and room selection will take place on the evening of March 28. Groups of potential roommates will select apartments in order based on their point totals.
Point totals are determined by multiplying each student’s credit hours by the number of semesters they have spent in UMaine housing and adding those numbers together.
Not every eligible group will receive an assignment in DTAV or Patch. This is partly due to how quickly the limited number of four-person suites are chosen. Apartments in Patch are regarded as more desirable than those in DTAV, and smaller suites are more popular than those that house six people.
“I think there are several reasons for that. Patch is newer — and looks newer when you walk through — and has a full kitchen,” Boynton-Allen said. “It’s also easier to consider four people sharing a space than five or six.”
DTAV has recently undergone some minor renovations to convert four units from six-person suites to the more popular four-person configuration, and to replace carpeting with tile floors in all the apartments.
“I would definitely prefer Patch over DTAV because I have four people living with me, but I know it fills up quickly with seniors,” said Elyse Doyle, a second-year economics student. “It will depend on my chances.”
Doyle is also considering off-campus housing in local complexes like Stillwater Village and Talmar Wood Apartments, calling Orchard Trails “just too far and a little too expensive.”
Boynton-Allen stressed during the information session that on-campus village living is a different experience from living in an off-campus apartment. She discouraged students interested in partying from applying.
“This is so not Orchard Trails on campus,” Boynton-Allen said.
She explained that village residents are expected to act as responsible members of the community, respecting the calm and quiet environment.
“I get annoyed with loud people next door, late at night, in the dorms,” said Megan Strout, a second-year new media student. “I want it quiet when I am just chilling, trying to do homework or sleep.”
Many Patch and DTAV residents are enrolled in challenging degree programs like nursing or engineering and are seeking an environment that is more conducive to studying than their current dorm room.
“Our students govern themselves in a lot of ways,” Boynton-Allen. “We put it on them to hold each other accountable and resolve conflicts amongst themselves.”
This does not mean that Patch and DTAV residents are immune to roommate disagreements and Boynton-Allen strongly encourages all suite residents to sign and uphold roommate agreements.
“You wouldn’t think so with juniors and seniors living here, but I have seen some epic conflicts,” she said.
Boynton-Allen said the most common issues between residents involve cleaning of shared rooms, use of food and noise issues — conflicts that are shared by all roommates, on campus and off.
“It builds up and becomes a huge issue in November or February and suddenly people can’t live together anymore,” Boynton-Allen said.
Patch and DTAV apartments are co-ed and this often results in significant others living together, a situation that Boynton-Allen said should not be entered into lightly.
“I want people to go in with eyes wide open and about what happens should a break-up occur,” she said, “Some years we don’t have an open bed here and it becomes a challenge. I want people to consider these things when they sign up.”
Because village living offers some of the challenges and opportunities of off-campus living without the hassle of commuter parking and paying rent and insurance, Boynton-Allen calls DTAV / Patch a stepping stone for older students.
“We’re sick of the dorms and I personally didn’t feel I was ready for an apartment,” said Strout of her roommate group.
Boynton-Allen said that village living can be a good deal financially when one considers additional expenses of living off campus like paying utilities and cost of commuting, especially for those students who may not be prepared to pay bills or stick to a budget.
“It’s hard to budget for off-campus living whereas here you know how much it will cost you each semester and you can save over the summer,” Boynton-Allen said.
The proposed rates, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, for living in DTAV or Patch during the 2011-2012 academic year are $4,814 for a double room, $6,538 for a single room and $7,222 for a double room converted to a single room.
She encourages interested students to make an appointment with the Office of Financial Aid to discuss their options and how their aid eligibility might change if they move off campus.
“It always depends on the student and their unique financial aid package,” Boynton-Allen said.
Resident assistants and staff in DTAV and Patch focus their programming on rewarding older students for their accomplishments thus far and preparing them for the future. Past programs have included instruction on signing a lease, purchasing a car and writing a résumé.
“We still do some social and fun programming, but our challenge is that our residents have been living in dorms for several years. We can’t just show them everything they’ve seen already,” Boynton-Allen said.
Boynton-Allen also organizes monthly spaghetti dinners in the community center and winery trips for residents over the age of 21.
“We treat them as adults because, at this stage, they are,” she said.
