FARMVILLE — Student housing costs will range from $6,134 to $9,046 for the 2015-16 academic year at Longwood University.

The fees are rising, on average, approximately $300 for the year across 11 housing options offered by the university.

The housing prices were adopted by Longwood’s Board of Visitors last month.

Historically, the university’s Vice-President for Administration and Finance, Ken Copeland, explained to the board, these rates have been set at a later date but last year “we began setting housing and dining rates at the December meetings so students could be aware of the charges when considering options ahead of signing up for housing.”

Dining fees were also adopted for the same reason.

Rates for tuition and fees will be brought to the board for action in March, as usual.

On Longwood’s main campus, housing rates will rise from $6,148 for a double room to $6,394, from $5,898 to $6,134 for three students sharing living space, and from $7,148 to $7,394 for a single room

In Lancer Park, quad housing—four students sharing a suite—will rise from $7,150 to $7,436 and a double will increase from $8,084 to $8,408.

New Lancer Park quad housing will rise from $7,974 to $8,292, with double housing rising from $8,084 to $8,408. A single room will cost $9,046, an increase from $8,698.

The cost of living at Longwood Village will rise from $7,406 to $7,702.

A quad suite at Longwood Landings will be priced at $8,292, up from $7,974, with a single costing $9,046, up from the current rate of $8,698.
Longwood, meanwhile, is adding to its on-campus housing inventory, with construction scheduled to begin in the spring on two four-story residential buildings containing a combined total of approximately 52,000 improved square feet, approximately 220 beds and related kitchen facilities.

The new student housing will be constructed next to the existing ARC residence hall and the Greenwood Library and will be built in the same Jeffersonian style of neo-classical architecture that is Longwood’s signature look.

Louise Waller, Executive Director of the Longwood Real Estate Foundation, has told The Herald that the new living space “will help move the institution towards housing first and second year students within the main academic campus in order to increase (student) retention and help students graduate within four years.”

“The relatively smaller living environment is intended to foster a strong sense of community among the students residing in the buildings,” she told The Herald.

The new housing, designed by Little Diversified and Franck and Lohsen, with construction by WM Jordan, will be the first residence halls built on Longwood’s main campus since 1992.

The new student housing space is considered vital if Longwood is to meet its goal of retaining a strong residential campus.

The closure, and now demolition, of the Cunningham Residence Halls, and the repurposing of French Hall into administrative space, the board was told, has reduced the number of student beds within Longwood’s main campus.

“This has been off-set,” the board was told in a written report, “by maintaining approximately 80 triple-bed rooms offered with financial incentives to students.”

And now the prices are set for the next academic year.