Live and let live, off campus

When Arizona State University officials justify recent hikes in the costs for students to enroll, they point primarily to factors over which they have little control — general inflation, intense competition for top-quality professors and public desires that ASU rank among the nation’s best institutions.

But at least one rising expense rests directly at the feet of ASU President Michael Crow and his anticipation that someday every first-year student will be required to live in a campus dormitory.

The Arizona Board of Regents were expected to debate Friday whether to raise the price for staying at the first privately built and operated student housing at ASU’s Tempe campus, called Hassayampa Academic Village.

Tribune writer Ryan Gabrielson reported Hassayampa already is far more expensive than older ASU dorms at $5,600 a year. The regents also were to consider rates for a second, privately funded dorm set to open in August.

The underlying context to the regents’ discussion is the fact that ASU launched a dorm-building cycle several years ago in response to Crow’s expectation that every freshman should sleep in the university’s dorms, regardless of their financial situation or personal lifestyle.

ASU officials say they don’t have a mandate. But that’s likely only because the university doesn’t yet have enough dorm beds to accommodate every freshman and other students who want to live on campus while they finish their degrees. Crow has made it clear he’s convinced that freshmen acclimate better to the college experience if they can’t escape it for most of their first year.

Unable to pay for all of the new dorms out of its own funds, ASU turned to a private partnership to launch the $100 million Hassayampa project. The building’s four towers clearly are a step up from previous student housing with amenities more common to private apartment complexes. Naturally, such amenities can command a higher price and the private developer also has a right to make a reasonable profit from this investment.

Compelling or even “strongly encouraging” freshmen to stay in these dorms also perversely will drive up prices as Hassayampa and the other projects will have less incentive to control expenses to compete with off-campus rentals.

Crow and the Board of Regents could ease the financial burden on many university students simply by not artificially inflating demand for student housing. Let the students decide for themselves what choices meet their expectations and don’t exceed their wallets.