Fresno State’s first housing project since 1968 unveiled a 83,000 square-foot apartment-style building, which focused on bringing an affordable housing option to students. The building has 228 student beds and six family housing units. 

The affordability for students stems from the apartment-style construction of the new dorms. Due to all the rooms having a built-in kitchen, undergraduate residents will not be required to sign up for a meal plan, cutting down costs.

However, the savings for students aren’t cut and dry. The cheapest room type in the new building is the apartment double, costing students $10,634 for the academic year. 

Looking at the room options in the traditional dorms: a community triple with either a gold or silver meal plan, as well as a community double, a two-bedroom suite triple and a single-bedroom suite triple with the silver meal plan, would all be cheaper. 

The three-bedroom suite double with the silver meal plan would cost just three dollars more than the apartment double for the whole academic year. 

The new building would largely be more affordable for new Fresno State students, as only returning students residents can sign up for the silver meal plan valued at $3,311. Priority registration for the apartment-style housing is given to juniors and seniors, with at least 60 units completed 

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval cited students’ concerns for housing in the area as a motivator for this project. 

“After the pandemic, the Fresno region suffered a 28% increase in rental prices,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “Our students were getting stressed out about traditional housing that’s around the university. This is the first step, I’m hoping we can build more of these in the future. Less than 2,000 beds is not enough for a campus of nearly 25,000.” 

The new housing building has six live-in family units, which can host a Fresno State student, their partner and up to three children for a monthly rent of $1,800. Birth certificates for the children and documentation proving they reside with the parent will be required, as well as a notarized affidavit of marriage or domestic partnership for the partner. 

“About 20% of our students are parents, and housing is a major obstacle for our parent-students as well,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “So this is a win-win-win situation for all of us.” 

Jiménez-Sandoval confirmed that Fresno State is exploring plans to implement more housing for students, including more live-in family units. 

“I believe that housing is that one element that makes you feel a sense of belonging like nothing else,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “We have statistics that state students who live on campus graduate at a much higher rate than those who do not. So [housing] is a retention element and also a graduation element. It took 50 years for us to do this. May it not take another five for us to open up another housing complex bigger than this one.” 

Director of Housing Erin Boele also spoke about her role in bringing the housing project together. 

“I’ve been a part of this since the conception,” Boele said. “We went out and talked to our students probably three years ago and said, ‘What kind of housing would you want on our campus if we were able to bring on new housing,’ and then we partnered with the state in order to bring on the affordable student housing grant with us. From concept with our architects and through the construction project, I’ve been a part of it the whole way.” 

Besides the new rooms, the building also has a ton of amenities for students. There’s a gym on the first floor, laundry room, lounge space and study space on every floor. Outside there’s a basketball half court, a bike barn for residents, picnic tables and a firepit with seating, as well as a playground for those living in the family units.

“We made sure every student had ethernet ports, we’ve got IT classroom services in the building, if they need to do Zoom meetings there’s available room in here,” Boele said. “We also made sure that there was a ton of community space, because even though they’re in an apartment, we don’t want them to feel isolated and everything meshed throughout the building.”

From the total $59 million the project cost, the affordable student housing grant was able to cover $33 million. Even with such a large price tag, Boele believes an investment like this is of the utmost importance. 

“If we can create an affordable place for our students to come onto campus, our students who live on campus graduate faster,” Boele said. “They have higher GPAs than students who are living off campus, because we take away some of the barriers and get them closer to their resources. So investing in a building to allow more students to live on campus, and not have them either couch surf or not choose Fresno State, it’s so important for them to have a stabilized environment. That’s why we all went for it, even though it’s going to cost us over some years.” 

Boele also described the process of how the new housing will be paid off, including the mechanics of the $33 million student housing grant. 

“We have an affordable student housing grant through the state of California,” Boele said. “That is gifted to us as long as we keep our rates within the affordable student housing. Then the association took on bonds to pay the difference, so we pay that out over the course of years to make sure we can keep the rates as low as possible.” 

All construction will be finished by Aug. 19, just before move in day on Aug 20.