The Annual Competitive Student Housing Hunt Continues in Kamloops, and Answers are needed

With every September becoming a battle for a living space, what are the logistics of the residences Kamloops has on its University campus?

A student housing crisis has been ensuing over the past couple years at Thompson Rivers University from the strong overflow of admissions, and answers are needed. Many student residents attending TRU have faced the same problem towards the end of summer and even the start of the year; not being able to find a bed to sleep on for 8 months. This is a problem that many students here in Kamloops have been demanding answers to for a long time. According to the TRU Fact book, there are 14,525 students on campus, and 1,472 beds for them to stay in on campus.

This very stressful situation only gets worse as the school year begins. Students find themselves having to couch surf for the first couple weeks of classes, and in some worse situations, renting hotel rooms by the night. Students expect an answer for this problem in the form of new residency, which they got the answer for; to an extent. 

Coyote Den, a new residence near East Village that holds 80 rooms and 148 student beds. Standing as the newest, a singular room in this dormitory costs $10,000 for the whole year. A double costs each student $4,388. If a student is not able to find a roommate for this dormitory, they would be subject to essentially paying $1,250 a month. “I wish I could just live in a more mediocre apartment complex for a cheaper amount”, said a Coyote Den resident who chose to remain anonymous. Comparing this to a four-bedroom suite in McGill that fills up very quickly, those students would only be paying $6,075 which comes out to approximately $760 a month.

As students are being given a residence that provides many different amenities, and brand new furniture for a less affordable price, it seems like the residency planners are missing the mark. The doing of a new residence being created on campus is a step in the right direction, but being cognizant of the expenses needed, a student in need still needs a cheap living option. Quality is always needed, but quantity is a big and lacking factor on the campus.

Westgate was the second to last residence that has been paid for and built on campus. This was definitely created as the cheaper option out of all the residencies. Westgate was created as a temporary relief for students dealing with the issue at hand. With 114 self contained private rooms in trailer homes. Affording this option that also fills up very quickly would cost $5,380, which cut into monthly payments would equal $672 a month. This is a great example of the opposite of Coyote Den. The big picture revolves around TRU needing a happy middle ground for the students who are just in need of a comfortable space to stay in for up to 8 months. A quick interview with Olivia [last name remains anonymous], a housekeeper for Westgate, she claims that “Westgate is definitely smaller, but it is a trade off as I would say you get more privacy [than Coyote Den].”

(Photo by Dermot Lonergan of Inside Westgate Dormitory hallway)

Being home to around 570 students around the year, North Tower is one of the more accommodating spots on campus, ranging from $9,100 a year for a two bedroom or four bedroom spot. This pricing comes out to around $1,137 a month. Even though over half a thousand students being able to stay in this residence seems like a fair amount, the competition is fierce when it comes to being selected to stay. But this does not just stand for North Tower, this is an all-residence type of problem. East Village holds up to a max of 510 students a year. To put this into perspective, the University of British Columbia has a residence called the Orchard Commons which holds over 1,000 students a year per building. As this is a wider scale of students attending UBC Vancouver, two of the biggest residence buildings equate to a singular residence.

For the price North Tower costs, there are some lacking amenities that are not up to par with other cheaper residences with less space. Jack Clayton of the TRU Men’s Basketball team, who lives in the residency, claims that “Some of the off campus housing is sometimes cheaper per month and you get way more space and closer stores and restaurants.” In the quick interview, he also said that a problem he had faced for the price paid was that “It was very difficult to get a spot in North Tower, and once I got in, I could not believe how small the kitchen and cooking area as a whole was.” North Tower staff declined any sort of comment at this time on the topic of “housing competitiveness”.

(Photo by Dermot Lonergan of outside North Tower, Kamloops BC)

As answers may take time to come for this steep problem, students do have hope in the fact that new residences are indeed being built; a happy medium between affordability and comfortability is ideal for these Kamloops students who travel away from home for the sole reason to expand their education.

Sources:

Thompson Rivers University. (n.d.). TRU Residence Services. Thompson Rivers University. Retrieved October 22, 2024, from https://www.tru.ca/housing.html

Thompson Rivers University. (n.d.). TRU Factbook. Thompson Rivers University. Retrieved October 22, 2024, from https://www.tru.ca/oirpa/factbook.html