After opening the door to her home for the 2015 fall semester, senior criminal justice major Libby Scoggins found herself disappointed with what she found.

Scoggins was one of many students that were the first to move into the new Student Village, and now that these students have lived in the new building for a full semester, they have formed opinions regarding the new space.

“Everyone was kind of under the impression that it was going to look like Ipswich,” said Scoggins. “It’s not even as good as Ipswich, and you pay more to live there.”

Scoggins said she was expecting to find larger rooms as well as her own bathroom. However, according to Director of Residential Education Mark Jestel, the Department of Residential Living taped out the exact dimensions of the rooms in the Student Village during last spring semester of 2015. This was done to avoid any confusion of room dimensions.

However, the size of the room was not the only issue Scoggins found in the Village. Scoggins and her roommates found themselves facing problems with humidity, the air conditioner and water pressure. She did, however, note that these issues were fixed, and they shouldn’t be issues that other students will face long-term.

“We were told we were going to get a stove top, and we got a hot plate. So, that was kind of upsetting,” said Scoggins.

This was an issue that another Village resident, senior English major Hayley Major, had trouble with as well. Still, Major tells of a different experience with the Village.

“It makes me feel a lot more independent,” Major said. “Since it is not on main campus, it does feel like an apartment to me.” Major said that she enjoys having a living room and kitchen area as well as the room’s own washer and dryer.

“[Having a washer and dryer] sounds like it wouldn’t be a big deal, but it is,” said Major. Major reported that while she and her roommates have had some maintenance issues, it was nothing that couldn’t be easily handled.

“I think it got a lot of flak at the beginning of the semester because we had certain expectations for it, but it is definitely a lot better than I think most people’s first impressions of it were,” said Major. “It is more expensive to live there, but I would choose it again.”

Major and Jestel both mentioned that they believe the Student Village is a great transitional living space, giving residents a change to become used to living in a more independent space.

Scoggins said that for this semester, she has decided to live in Mayflower. And, she suggested to anyone who plans to live there to do research about the rooms, so that he or she is not surprised with what is found.

Jestel, however, said the Village has an exciting future ahead. Piedmont’s administration is still planning to build a shopping area with various shops and restaurants in the same area as the off-campus residence hall. He also mentioned that the students living in the Village apartments are finally starting to utilize the new alcohol policy, moving from three approved suites to seven.

“Overall, [the residents] all seem to enjoy the ability to live off campus,” said Jestel.

For more information about the Student Village and how to live there next year, contact Jestel at [email protected].