Organizing housing at TCU is like a puzzle, but Housing and Residence Life say they have it figured out.
The closing of Colby Residence this spring has TCU Housing and Residence Life reshuffling arrangements for the fall to make room for first-year students and to accommodate as many upper-division students as possible.
“Our challenge is to figure out how to provide still as much housing as possible even though we are going to have fewer beds than we have currently,” said Craig Allen, the director of Housing and Residence Life.
Allen said the new upper-division residence hall behind Marion-Clark Hall will contain about 160 new beds for second- and third-year students. TCU will lease about 20 to 30 more beds in the Grand Marc Apartments for student use. Some rooms in various residence halls will be turned into triple occupancies, Allen said.
First-year students will be able to live in P. E. Clark Hall while Marion Hall will remain available to second-year students. Some sections of the Commons buildings will also be set aside for first-year students, Allen said.
Allen said that although Colby will likely continue as an all female hall, it is still yet be to be determined if another dorm will be designated all-female while Colby is being renovated.
When incoming students apply for housing next semester, they will see changes to the housing application, Allen said.
“For incoming freshmen, they will not give us a building preference,” Allen said. “They will simply tell us if they are female, if they want to be in an all female hall or co-ed.” In the past few years, the demand for an all-female hall has steadily declined. The number of applicants that would prefer an all-female hall will determine if there will be an all-female in the fall semester, Allen said.
After the renovations to Colby are completed, the next plan of action is to demolish Brachman Hall, said Harold Leeman, the director of Facility Planning and Construction.
“We were going to take Brachman down this summer and start the parking garage, but we can’t because we are taking Colby down,” Leeman said.
