FAMU approves proposal for new student housing system

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - The Florida A&M University Board of Trustees accepted a request on Thursday for the administration to begin negotiations to acquire property near campus to expand the availability of student housing.

In accordance with the plan, the Board gave President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., permission to request approval from the US Department of Education to start negotiations about buying property north of the campus, around Eugenia and Conklin streets and Rattler Court.

The proposal is to acquire 118 beds - 14 duplexes containing 24 beds, 32 apartments containing 52 beds, and 14 condominiums containing 42 beds, according to the press release.

The US Department of Education must also approve this proposal. The cash sale might close this fall if it is permitted. Officials at the university hope to start leasing to students in the spring of 2023.

Currently, FAMU students make up over 75% of the tenants.

“This provides a short-term solution that will have long-term implications,” President Robinson said during Tuesday’s meeting. “For years, we have been trying to figure out a way to give FAMU a presence in the northwest area near the train tracks where development has occurred. This will give us a footprint beyond our present campus boundary. It is a highly visible and very productive area of the community.”

According to FAMU, the proposal comes in reaction to the lack of on-campus accommodation this fall brought on by a rise in the number of first-year, transfer and returning students who want to live on campus and a rise in the cost of off-campus housing.

“This move is part of the master plan and the continuing effort to provide affordable housing. We are planning for the future,” Vice President for Student Affairs Williams E. Hudson Jr., Ph.D., said.

The University provided a rental aid and food plan package for freshmen who were unable to find on-campus housing as well as for up to 200 transfer students who have fewer than 60 credit hours in response to the lack of on-campus beds, FAMU said.

The university offered upperclassmen a package worth $2,000 per semester and $5,716 for the meal plan for the entire academic year in exchange for them moving off-campus in an effort to make space on campus for freshmen, students under 18, students with disabilities, and other students.