UMKC students living on campus don’t hate dorm life, but there are changes they would like to see regarding the quality of the campus residential buildings.
According to Johnson and Oak Street Hall residents, living within walking distance to campus, having a quiet space to study and free access to amenities all make staying in the dorms worthwhile. Students who choose to live on campus have free laundry, community kitchens and computer kiosks included with their housing contracts.
However, living in the dorms doesn’t come without some problems.
“The building is nice, and you can definitely tell that they put effort into the common areas,” said Johnson Hall resident, Tyler Kropp. “But, I feel like official, qualified help with maintenance for the dorms should be a bigger priority.”
Kropp says he was recently with a friend when her shower started to leak. Her bathroom was flooded, and water leaked into both rooms of the suite.
“Two RAs had to go down there and work on it themselves. It was just college students up there fixing a water leak,” Kropp said. “I feel like there’s a better way to go about that.”
Another issue impacting on-campus life is the fact that in both dorms, over half of the washing machines and a few of the dryers are broken.
“The biggest improvement could definitely be the laundry rooms,” said freshman Lauren Magee. “The machines just need maintenance.”
Both dorms have experienced excess flooding and water damage due to burst pipes, most notably in spring 2021 in Johnson Hall and winter 2022 in Oak Street Hall. Both instances led to the displacement of over 100 students.
UMKC’s Residential Life website has information about how to submit a maintenance request. If you are an on-campus resident with an emergency maintenance request, such as a water leak, visit the front desk of your dorm.
