September 8, 1999

Ramapo College Opens New Residence Hall —Demand Remains Greater Than Supply

(Mahwah) - Despite last month's completion of a new residence hall on the campus of Ramapo College of New Jersey, nearly 100 students are being housed in a nearby off-campus motel. Rising enrollments among first-year students and increasing numbers who choose to live on campus have put a squeeze on residence hall accommodations, beyond the capacity of the college's residence halls even though one, Oak Hall, was just opened last month. First-time full-time freshmen are increasingly opting for the complete college experience, which means living on campus. At Ramapo this year, 82 percent of that population chose campus housing.

"This is the fifth phase of residence hall construction for the college," noted Richard Roberts, the college's contracting officer, "and represents a significant addition to our existing inventory of 1,200 beds. Because of the strong interest in on-campus housing on the part of incoming freshmen and transfer students, we are already planning to construct a 'twin' of this hall for completion by the fall of 2000." The new five-story residence hall will house 250 students in 126 rooms and includes a two-bedroom apartment for a residence director, laundry, vending and mail facilities. Each floor contains a study facility/multipurpose room for social activities. Highly functional individual double rooms provide a bedroom area, bath with shower, and study station: a desk with computer space, task-lighting unit and bookshelves. One of the most frequently asked questions at Ramapo College open houses is, "What is the port-to-pillow ratio" In Oak Hall, the voice/video/data to pillow ratio is 1 to 1, meaning, a room set up for two students has two ports.

A separate, single-story, 8,500 square foot dining/fitness center facility contains a state-of-the-art kitchen/food preparation/service area, seating accommodations for 170, and a fully-equipped exercise room for students. The building has been designed for expansion to double dining service capacity and the addition of meeting/conference rooms. When not being used for dining purposes, the pavilion may be utilized as a center for seminars and/or conferences.

Designed by Commero Coppa Architects of Totowa, and overseen by construction manager Damon G. Douglas Co. of Cranford, Oak Hall was constructed by Century 21 Construction of Clifton.