Spring Break
As students use more power, colleges must rewire rooms
By: James Hannah
Issue date: 11/20/03 Section: News
OXFORD, Ohio - Steve Leslie's dorm room at Miami University has 20 plugs sprouting from the walls.
They power a color TV, stereo, compact disc and DVD players, video game player, desktop computer and laptop, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave and two fans. Then there are rechargers for a cell phone, hand-held computer, camera, electric razor and toothbrush.
''I just keep adding stuff,'' said Leslie, 20, a junior who shares the room with another student. ''I fill up my car and my dad's truck. Some of the bigger stuff, like the speakers, have to wait for the second trip.''
Today's collegians are part of a generation raised on electronics, and colleges are having no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade electrical systems. Often, the upgrade costs are getting passed on to parents and students in the form of higher fees.
''It looks like Circuit City in some of those rooms,'' said Dan Bertsos, director of residence services at Wright State University near Dayton.
New and renovated dorms at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth are being wired to handle the increasing load.
''Kids used to come to college with an AM radio and an electric razor. Now they arrive with every electronic device there is,'' said Roger Fisher, director of residential services. ''They come to campus in a U-Haul, and Dad follows in a Suburban.''
The average freshman at Miami University takes 18 appliances to campus, according to a March survey by the school.
As part of a $7 million renovation of one dorm, Ogden Hall, the university spent $212,548 in 2000 to add building substations, electrical distribution panels and electrical outlets. The 7,000 students who live on campus pay an extra $100 a year in housing fees to cover the renovation costs.
''These days the students' lives are quite changed. They need more appliances,'' said Takashi Kawai, a 64-year-old Dayton-area man whose son lives in a dorm at Miami.
They power a color TV, stereo, compact disc and DVD players, video game player, desktop computer and laptop, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave and two fans. Then there are rechargers for a cell phone, hand-held computer, camera, electric razor and toothbrush.
''I just keep adding stuff,'' said Leslie, 20, a junior who shares the room with another student. ''I fill up my car and my dad's truck. Some of the bigger stuff, like the speakers, have to wait for the second trip.''
Today's collegians are part of a generation raised on electronics, and colleges are having no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade electrical systems. Often, the upgrade costs are getting passed on to parents and students in the form of higher fees.
''It looks like Circuit City in some of those rooms,'' said Dan Bertsos, director of residence services at Wright State University near Dayton.
New and renovated dorms at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth are being wired to handle the increasing load.
''Kids used to come to college with an AM radio and an electric razor. Now they arrive with every electronic device there is,'' said Roger Fisher, director of residential services. ''They come to campus in a U-Haul, and Dad follows in a Suburban.''
The average freshman at Miami University takes 18 appliances to campus, according to a March survey by the school.
As part of a $7 million renovation of one dorm, Ogden Hall, the university spent $212,548 in 2000 to add building substations, electrical distribution panels and electrical outlets. The 7,000 students who live on campus pay an extra $100 a year in housing fees to cover the renovation costs.
''These days the students' lives are quite changed. They need more appliances,'' said Takashi Kawai, a 64-year-old Dayton-area man whose son lives in a dorm at Miami.
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