By Delaney Reaves

NWACC recently has been making steps to bring student housing to the Bentonville campus. Studies have been conducted by Vogt Strategic Insights to review the need and availability to establish dorms at the community college.

Justin White, vice president of student services for NWACC said that the Residental Housing Committee recenctly met to research the possibilty of student housing on campus..

“It will be the charge of this committee to research, determine and make recommendations on the topic of housing to college leadership” White said.

White said that the location of the dorms has not been decided but NWACC does have several acres that could be sutiable for the buildings. Months of research and data collection will be included into the comittees decsion before it is made final.

“We want to make sure that the timing is right for housing and that the need exists for such a large undertaking” White said.

In 2022, NWACC reported 7,593 students with 384 of those students being from out of state. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, in 2015, 28% of community colleges offered on campus housing and only 1% of those students actually lived on campus.

Some community colleges that offer student housing include Butler Community College in Kansas, Suny Broome Community College in New York, Colorado Northwestern Community College in Colorado and Lawson State Community College in Alabama.

NWACC student Ken Jeffries said that dorm costs should only be assessed to those who will be living on campus. He said he knows dorms are usually on campus, but that won’t negate the need for walkable paths to the main classroom buildings.

Jeffries said “the dorms should be within walking distance of the campus, and there should be both sidewalks and bike paths between the campus and the dorms.”

Orianna Moscatellii, a current Early Childhood Development and Psychology major, has been attending NWACC for a year. She said that she thinks the dorms would be good for out of state students and possibly for their budgets while being in school.

“I believe dorm rooms on campus would provide great benefits to students that have to commute. l also believe f inancially, it would benefit and drive more students to NWACC because of that opportunity” Moscatelli stated.

Hadley Hutchinson, another NWACC student, said that she thinks it will be an incredible help to students who are moving to the area for community college. “For students wanting the college experience of moving out,” Hutchinson said, “but having a cheaper bill with classes, it could be a good option.” Hutchinson said that though this could be a good experience for college students, she thinks the pricing of the dorms would ultimately determine the success that NWACC has with filling the spots.