The first four buildings of Village Apartments at Arkansas State University will be occupied later this month by students who will say that the move-in time is not a day too soon. First choice was offered to students moving from the nearby trailers, the oldest form of family housing at ASU.

The Village Apartments includes 100 units in a mix of 14 two and three--story buildings on the southeast corner of the campus.

Four of the buildings are undergoing finishing touches and will be ready for occupancy within days. Construction is still progressing on the other buildings, with the first phase due for completion by fall of next year.

"The architectural styling is particularly appealing to students," according to Dr. Rick Stripling, vice chancellor for student affairs at ASU. "Painted in various pastel shades, the Village is designed very similarly to popular coastal properties in the southeast U.S. These structures will add a very pleasing quality to the campus landscape, and we believe the students and families who live there will enjoy them very much."

Building the family housing is a major step forward for the Department of Residence Life at ASU. Literally thousands of students since 1945 have lived in trailers, or mobile homes as they are now called, in Indian Village. Trailers were Arkansas State College’s most practical response to the demand for housing from students seeking higher education in the post-World War II economy.

Together, the new apartments and the existing houses nearby will comprise the Village, leaving the trailers to memories and history and establishing a new lifestyle for family housing.

Because of the public interest in developments, Patrick Dixon, director of the Department of Residence Life, researched the history of residential trailers on campus.

According to his research, the first trailers were introduced in the 1945-46 academic year in the area now occupied by the Collegiate Park apartments on Caraway Road. "Trailer City," as it was known then, included 25 trailers, two sanitary units, and a laundry facility. The trailers were only 25 feet long, and seven and a half feet wide.

In May of 1946, another 38 trailers were added. The post-war students who lived there paid rent of $15 per month.

While he was not able to determine how many students have lived in campus trailers over the years, he estimated that the number would be in the thousands. The number of trailers peeked at 110 in 1997, before the university started removing the older units.

It would be a gross understatement to say that the few students who still live in the few remaining mobile homes will see a major difference in lifestyle at The Village Apartments.

The new apartments vary in configuration and size, from a 577 square-foot, one-bedroom unit to a 1,003 square-foot, three-bedroom unit. Each includes a range, refrigerator, dishwasher, garbage disposal and ceiling fan.

The monthly rental fee, which starts at $450, varies according to apartment size and washer and dryer connections. The rent includes all utilities, expanded cable, local telephone service, and high speed Internet service.

The apartment complex will also have a playground and bus stop.

Students who qualify for The Village Apartments will include married students who are living with a spouse, single parents with custody of a child or children, graduate students, and nontraditional students age 26 and above.

The Village is being developed in phases, with plans to include 88 more apartment units and a commercial center in the future. A timetable for the second and third phases has not been announced.

The remaining trailers will be put up for sale next year after students have had time to move out.

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