HLS and HBS Provide Varied Housing Options

These are universal truths that every Harvard graduate student knows: Apartments in Cambridge are few and far between. Reasonably-priced apartments are even rarer. And apartments with dorm crew don't exist.

So those lucky few at the Business School (HBS) and the Law School (HLS) who don't have to fight the apartment-hungry crowds at Harvard Planning and Real Estate gladly opt for on-campus housing.

They get all the convenience of their undergraduate dormitories without the hassles of an off-campus apartment.

”I have my own bathroom, heat, water, and air conditioning," says second-year HBS student and Morris Hall resident Kathleen H. Gasuad. "They come and clean, take out my garbage... It's a Pretty good deal".

Most students say that cost and convenience play the biggest roles in their decision to live in student housing.

A first-year law student living in Wyeth Hall agrees, saying he chose to live in residence because it's "cheap, furnished, and convenient".

The convenience in a huge factor," Gasuad says. "Everything's right here".

Some, like first-year Law School student Alison J. Reed, say they ended up in student housing because they had no time to apartment hunt before coming to school.

"I'm from California and I was working up until the last minute," Reed says. "I couldn't come out here over the summer and look for other places to live".

Students also say the social atmosphere also made the dorms desirable.

My friends from last year are living on campus," says Randi S. Reich, a second-year at HBS. "I have the feeling it my friends had decided to move off campus, I would have as well".

Matthew C. Bate, a first-year Law School student, says the social aspect h as made his experience much more enjoyable. "There's a camaraderie that you don't get in an apartment," he says.

From Spartan to Stately

Almost 40 percent of the 1,800 Law School students live in dorms on campus. According to John S. Sarno, Director of building operations at the Law School, most of the residents and first-years.

"The 1L's are given a high percentage of rooms", Sarno says. "Many second and third-year students choose to live off campus, although some of them certainly return".

Like the undergraduate houses, the eight dormitories vary in degree of desirability. Unlike the egalitarian undergraduate housing, they are also priced accordingly.

A room in the Gropius Complex, a hulking concrete modernist box designed by renowned architect Walter Gropius runs $3,190. Like Gropius's aesthetic, the accommodations are rather minimalist.

Reed describes her hall in the Gropius Complex, which is made of sturdy concrete both inside and outside, as "spartan and utilitarian."

Students pay comparatively short money for small singles-the majority of rooms are 9 by 12 fee-and share a bathroom with up to 27 other people.

Reed says despite the disadvantages, the low cost is attracts many students to the complex.

"It is really close to [Harness Commons] and their gourmet cuisine," she jokes.

A few blocks away, Wyeth Hall gives students mid-level Law School luxury. The apartment-style brick building features powerful heaters and a sporadically operating elevator. Wyeth-Which houses 87 students-is arranged in two and three person suites with two common areas and a kitchen on every floor.

The Mass. Ave dormitory has one particular feature that seems to draw most of its residents-the cost. Students who pay $3,630 to $5,240 a year for singles that range from 130 to more than 180 square feet says they felt they were getting a pretty good deal.

"I was surprised by the disparate quality of the different dorms," says Jamil O. French, a first-year living in a basement suite in Wyeth. "Gropius is low quality and cheap. At North Hall, the cost way exceeds the quality. [Wyeth] is pretty much in the middle".

Wyeth "is the best quality for the cost," says Fanni D. Koszeg, a doctoral candidate at the Law School. While hot water can be hard to come by and the elevator often isn't working, the dorm is a good option for students on a budget, she says.

”I’m living in residence because it’s cheaper…It’s not an apartment, but it’s okay,” she says.

Hastings Hall, a slightly higher-priced brownstone with crawling ivy, walk-in closets and working brick fireplaces draws more enthusiasm.

"It's in a student's price range," says Bate, who lives in a fourth-floor suite. "Of all the Law School dorms, this is one of the most comfortable".

The townhouse-style Hastings is also one of the most convenient dorms with its proximity to Langdell Library and classrooms. Bate says the hall is one of the most popular and students get rooms there largely by luck of the lottery.

Room with a View

Just across the river from their Law School counterparts, Business School students are living in dorms that are a prelude to future stays in posh hotels as globe-trotting executives.

Ranging in style from colonial to corporate, the various dorms house some very satisfied students who have few complaints about their residences.

Hamilton Hall is one of the most popular, with spacious, furnished singles and views of the landscaped Business School grounds on one side and the Charles River on the other. Students live in four-person suites with two-room singles and one shared full bath.

Reich, a Hamilton resident for two years, says she's satisfied with her building. "Incredibly convenient, safe, access to the tunnels, lots of space," she says.