Opinion: The AU Housing Hierarchy

It’s no news that American College is expensive. The 2021-2022 charge of attendance is $50,542, a selling price higher than the nationwide typical price of tuition, which is $41,281. 

However housing price ranges vary, the double occupancy rooms at AU span from $5,048 to $6,308. AU is a private establishment that is not very generous with its fiscal support, normally deterring minimal-profits learners from attending the University. The median household income of a student is $155,300, filling the school’s college student body with privileged, financially affluent pupils. For the reason that of this, there is now a social division concerning the college students. The contrast in housing rates only deepens this line involving them.

As my roommate and I seemed at sophomore housing solutions for upcoming semester, I was startled to see how dorm price ranges differed. McDowell Corridor, a classic double, costs $10,096 for every yr. Meanwhile, East Campus, a suite-fashion residence corridor, fees $12,310. 

East Campus was lately built in 2017, when McDowell Corridor has been around considering the fact that 1962. The distinction between the two dorms was really evident as we went through the digital tours. East Campus dorms occupy a larger, cozier place and contain a non-public toilet. They also have serious wardrobes, as opposed to the constructed-in closets in McDowell. Considering that McDowell is a common dorm, there’s no bathroom in the rooms. 

The floor lounges also contrast in quality. There haven’t been any main documented problems in East Campus, although McDowell faced mildew allegations just past semester. Though I have only in contrast the two in this article, the other suite and condominium-fashion residence buildings differ from the classic dorms.

What unnerved me was not just the big difference between the dorms but the believed of how this would create a hierarchy based on the students’ socioeconomic status. It is evident that learners from wealthier backgrounds would pick the much more highly-priced housing though the minimal-revenue college students wouldn’t have the exact privilege to do so. While it is useful to provide more affordable dwelling alternatives for minimal-earnings pupils, the distinction in price and top quality attracts a divide in between the two sides. 

Income inequality performs a important function in analyzing how people’s accessibility to housing differs. In metropolitan areas like D.C, the poverty premiums are increased so you typically listen to of the “good” and “bad” elements. Architecture contributes substantially to exclusion and separation in purchase to bolster this social hierarchy. For case in point, in affluent parts like Georgetown, the hostile architecture is directed to continue to keep the deprived, unhoused inhabitants away. 

At AU, a position where loaded, white students are already the the vast majority, we see the influence of architecture with the way the housing method emphasizes course division. Of class, many faculties also supply more relaxed housing for larger costs. However, this does not mean the housing technique does not perpetuate classist beliefs, wherever the final results create a social hierarchy at the College. Many minimal-cash flow learners experience they really don’t receive the needed assist and aid to triumph at elite institutions. Housing disparities only make them truly feel their social identity at all periods and experience more ostracized. 

AU college students usually level out the dissimilarities among these dwelling areas. Nevertheless, the even bigger image does not feel to be in everyone’s concentrate. Classism is often an forgotten “-ism” owing to its big function in our each day life. Individuals are conditioned to search earlier it mainly because it is “normal.” For an individual to turn into an anti-classist, it is critical to realize the purpose course privilege plays in quite a few programs we use each and every working day. 

Meliha Ural is a freshman in the Faculty of Community Affairs and a columnist for The Eagle.

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