Opinion: The AU Housing Hierarchy

It’s no news that American College is highly-priced. The 2021-2022 cost of attendance is $50,542, a value higher than the nationwide normal price tag of tuition, which is $41,281. 

Even though housing price ranges differ, the double occupancy rooms at AU span from $5,048 to $6,308. AU is a non-public establishment that is not pretty generous with its financial support, normally deterring lower-cash flow college students from attending the College. The median family members revenue of a college student is $155,300, filling the school’s pupil human body with privileged, fiscally affluent learners. Since of this, there is now a social division between the college students. The contrast in housing rates only deepens this line between them.

As my roommate and I appeared at sophomore housing solutions for upcoming semester, I was startled to see how dorm charges differed. McDowell Corridor, a common double, expenses $10,096 for every calendar year. In the meantime, East Campus, a suite-type residence hall, expenditures $12,310. 

East Campus was not long ago developed in 2017, although McDowell Corridor has been all-around due to the fact 1962. The big difference concerning the two dorms was quite evident as we went as a result of the virtual tours. East Campus dorms occupy a even larger, cozier area and contain a private toilet. They also have real wardrobes, contrary to the designed-in closets in McDowell. Because McDowell is a traditional dorm, there is no lavatory in the rooms. 

The floor lounges also contrast in high-quality. There have not been any important described problems in East Campus, whilst McDowell confronted mould allegations just very last semester. Although I have only in contrast the two below, the other suite and apartment-fashion residence structures fluctuate from the standard dorms.

What unnerved me was not just the big difference in between the dorms but the assumed of how this would make a hierarchy primarily based on the students’ socioeconomic standing. It is noticeable that pupils from wealthier backgrounds would choose the additional expensive housing while the low-revenue students wouldn’t have the very same privilege to do so. Whilst it is helpful to deliver more affordable living selections for minimal-profits pupils, the difference in price tag and high-quality attracts a divide in between the two sides. 

Profits inequality plays a substantial role in figuring out how people’s entry to housing differs. In cities like D.C, the poverty costs are greater so you normally listen to of the “good” and “bad” parts. Architecture contributes significantly to exclusion and separation in order to bolster this social hierarchy. For instance, in affluent places like Georgetown, the hostile architecture is directed to keep the disadvantaged, unhoused population away. 

At AU, a spot in which wealthy, white students are previously the bulk, we see the impression of architecture with the way the housing process emphasizes class division. Of study course, a lot of colleges also give extra cozy housing for better rates. Having said that, this does not indicate the housing system does not perpetuate classist ideals, wherever the success make a social hierarchy at the University. Lots of reduced-revenue learners really feel they really don’t acquire the needed enable and help to realize success at elite institutions. Housing disparities only make them experience their social identification at all instances and feel extra ostracized. 

AU learners normally level out the variances concerning these living areas. On the other hand, the bigger photo does not look to be in everyone’s target. Classism is typically an forgotten “-ism” thanks to its significant part in our every day life. Men and women are conditioned to seem earlier it because it is “normal.” For an specific to come to be an anti-classist, it is important to acknowledge the part class privilege performs in a lot of devices we use each and every day. 

Meliha Ural is a freshman in the University of General public Affairs and a columnist for The Eagle.

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