By Daniel Houston
Staff Writer
Students returning next year to University Parks Apartments will have to adjust to some changes in policy after Baylor takes over the property in June.
Under the management of Campus Living & Learning (CL&L), University Parks will require residents to comply with the same policies as other university-owned apartment complexes. These policies include restrictions on pets, alcohol and visitation hours.
Tiffany Lowe, director for CL&L, said Baylor purchased the property to foster a community atmosphere using university resources and guidance.
“Baylor students have shared that they want more living options, specifically apartment-style living,” Lowe wrote in an email to the Lariat.
“University Parks offers students an apartment-style option, while still providing the benefit of the staffing one would find in our on-campus communities, including [community leaders], a residence hall director, assistant residence hall director and resident chaplain.”
University Parks resident and Amarillo junior Lauren Krieg will return to the apartments next year — without her dog.
While she said signing another lease was “not a difficult decision” because she appreciates the quality of the apartments, she will have to move into another unit because the new policies require men and women to live in separate buildings.
“I am upset about it because, choosing to stay here again, I thought I was choosing to live close to the same lifestyle that I had been,” Krieg said.
“So with the pet, visitation hours and having to move to a new apartment building, that’s a lot more than I thought would happen,” she said.
Rent will be lower under university management for some, but residents will no longer have the option of furnishing their own apartments for lower rent payments.
The furniture provided will be similar to other CL&L apartment communities, Lowe said.
In addition, access to the apartments during the summer will be restricted to students taking at least one summer class.
Two-bedroom apartments will be less expensive under university management than the old rate, according to pricing data provided by Brandy Sanchez, University Parks assistant manager. They will run $3,210 per semester, including utilities.
Three-bedroom apartments will be roughly the same price and four-bedroom apartments will be $196 more expensive per semester than this year’s rent rates. The absence of utility fees could offset at least part of that discrepancy.
Although the university will not require residents to purchase a meal plan, it will require them to buy parking permits.
