By Andrea O’Brien
Staff Writer
Three hundred dorm rooms across all residence halls were transformed from standard doubles to premium singles over the summer.
According to Shakira Rosado, residence hall director of Corinne Hall Towers, most premium singles come with a full-size bed, a dresser, a wardrobe, a “comfy” chair, and a desk with a desk chair.
Last year, premium single tours were conducted in Towers. Students who were interested were shown four premium single options, said Rosado.
“This layout [that we chose] was the one that our survey showed was favored by residents,” she said.
While premium singles were added to all six residence halls on campus, Larned and Towers had the most installed, said Glenn Cochran, associate dean of students and director of Residence Life and Housing.
Horace Mann and Peirce halls have only a few premium singles, and they differ in set-up from the ones in Larned and Towers, said Cochran.
Judea Blake, a senior, has a premium single which includes a full-size bed with two closets, one desk, two dressers, and a couch.
Blake previously had a double as a single, which was different from her premium single, as the double had two of everything, she said.
“I like having it [the premium single], but I would rather a double as a single, personally. But
since the premium single is what they had, that’s what I got,” said Blake.
“I definitely like not having a roommate. Also, the couch is pretty cool because I’ve never seen a couch in someone’s room, so that’s my favorite,” she said.
Rosado said, “Residents enjoy having extra space to themselves, especially from my interactions with those in Towers.”
Senior Olivia Alexander said she didn’t know what the premium singles in Larned and Towers looked like as they were just added this semester.
“I live in Miles Bibb, so I’ve actually never seen any of the premium singles in Larned or Towers,” said Alexander.
However, Olivia Putnam, a junior, said she has “a lot of opinions” about the new premium singles in Larned and Towers.
“I think they’re overpriced, but not for the reasons you might think,” said Putnam.
“It’s basically the equivalent of a double as a single, except instead of pushing two twin beds together, they just got a full bed and added a chair. But other than that, it’s the same thing - just more expensive,” she said.
According to the Framingham State website, the annual cost of a premium single is the regular room rate plus an additional $3,000.
In Larned, the annual price of a standard double, triple, or quad is $9,380 and the annual cost of a premium single is $12,380. In Towers, a standard double is $8,880, a design single, a single is $9,700, and a premium single is $11,880.
Meredith Morin, a junior, said she was very surprised to hear that a premium single is an additional $3,000.
“They seem really big, but $3,000 is crazy for a premium single. That’s more than I pay in rent to live off campus,” said Morin.
Liv West, a junior and the outreach and events coordinator for SGA, said she knows some students who have these premium singles in Larned and Towers and has been in them before.
“They’re really big and spacious,” she said. “But if people want a bigger room without having to pay a higher price, I think there should still be an option for a double as a single.”
According to Cochran, because these rooms were originally doubles, meant for two people, there was a lot of extra furniture that had to be removed.
“We had to move 600 beds because we took the twin beds out and put in full beds,” said Cochran.
One of the problems Residence Life faced while undertaking this renovation was what to do with all this extra furniture.
Cochran said some of the extra furniture was saved in storage in case the number of students graduating from high school increases in the future and enrollment and the demand for
housing increases with it.
“We may end up with higher demand for housing some day and we could, theoretically, turn premium single rooms back to doubles.
“Right now, we don’t have that demand so we were trying to say, ‘What is it that people will like that we could do with the space?’” said Cochran.
He said the rest of the furniture that was not put in storage was moved to other campuses in the state system that needed it, including Mass. Maritime Academy.
The installation of premium singles was not the only residence hall renovation completed over the summer.
Some of the other renovations and projects done included installing new flooring in Peirce and Horace Mann halls, which was a “big project” that cost $278,000, according to Cochran.
This project was funded by capital improvement funds with the Massachusetts State College Building Authority (MSCBA), said Cochran.
Additionally, Cochran said new stairwell doors were installed in Larned, which he said was important for fire safety reasons.
All the mattresses in Miles Bibb were replaced and the new FSU logo was added to residence halls on campus, he said.
In Towers, a wall was decorated with the University’s motto “Live to the Truth” on it. Cochran, Rosado, and Christoper Addario, residence director of Larned Hall, worked on it collectively, said Stephanie Crane, associate director of residence life.