FY 1997 Annual Report

IowaStateUniversity

Department of Residence

andISU Dining

Annual Report FY2010

Prepared September 2010

Submitted by:

Dr. Peter Englin

Director of Residence

and

Nancy Levandowski

Director, ISU Dining

Iowa StateUniversity

Department of Residence

and

ISU Dining

Annual Report FY2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Department of Residence (DOR)

Strategic and continuous improvement in facilities and furnishings has been an emphasis these past few years. As occupancy has increased, the revenue generated has enhanced the ability to reinvest, including the installation of a surveillance camera system on all ground level exterior entrances/exits, 802.11n ubiquitous wireless, heat & smoke detection systems, fire suppression, and general painting, floor covering, and furniture upgrades. Even with this improvement in financial position, the DOR has over $45M identified in unfunded improvements it could effect, including new windows in most buildings, upgraded HVAC systems, modern student room furniture, and restroom renovations.

On the programmatic side, retention to Iowa State University and providing added value to the student experience for those that live on campus are the priorities. MapWorks, a freshmen focused, Web-based, self-assessment program is in its third year of use and is implemented the third week of each fall semester. This is the optimal time for this survey as it is the point at which students are realizing the differences between the realities of being a new freshman and their expectations of what their first year at college would be like. The MapWorks results provide students and staff with a comprehensive snapshot of how each individual student is experiencing Iowa State shortly after starting classes. Currently, the DOR funds over 85% of this $75,000 initiativeand partners with the Dean of Students Office, College of Human Sciences, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Business, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, and College of Design in sharing/using the student data derived from the MapWorks assessment. Transfer students in Humans Sciences and Engineering are also participating inMapWorks. Depending on how this experience unfolds, additional opportunities to use MapWorks for transfer students may be offered.

Some other positive outcomes from living on campus were noted. Students living on campus recorded significantly higher GPAs than their off campus peers. Disaggregating National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) data also provides good information regarding on campus life. On campus students were more likely to have already participated in a learning community; worked on a research project with a faculty member outside of course or program requirements; planned to do a culminating senior experience (capstone course, senior project, or thesis); had serious conversations with students who are very different in terms of religious beliefs, political opinions, or personal values; attended an art exhibit, play, dance, music, theater, or other performance; felt the institution does a good job of providing the support to help them succeed academically; felt the institution emphasizes encouraging contact among students from different backgrounds; encouraged attending campus events and activities; provided the support they need to help them succeed; provided the support they need to thrive socially; and evaluated their educational experience more positively.

Over the past few years, as enrollment has increased, on campus housing occupancy has outpaced that growth. Since 2005 enrollment has increased 11.4% (from 25,741 to 28,682) while occupancy has grown 21.5% (from 7736 to 9403). The above experiences are believed to contribute to this dynamic. The forecasted decline in traditional age graduating high school students will challenge both enrollment and occupancy in the next few years.

ISU Dining

The Business Café was closed for six weeks, beginning November 2009 for renovations, which resulted in a dip in sales for the fiscal year. The new espresso service, added during the renovation, is expected to increase sales with most of the increase being realized in the FY11 budget year.

The final phase of the East Campus project, Conversations Dining Center, opened August 2010 and has generated a strong following.Marketing efforts continue to be a focus for this area, informing students that the facility is open, offering a newly developed menu, a la carte breakfast service and a coffee bar. With the coming of fall and winter, with colder weather and shorter days, business in these locations is anticipated to increase as students in the residential portion of the building, and in other buildings of close proximity, are less likely to venture outside or very far in the cold and dark for meal service.

The addition of a limited number of fresh produce items, ground beef and chicken for students to purchase at Hawthorn Market and Café (HMC) has improved the meal options offered to students.HMC and Wallace/Wilson C-store (WW C-store) have extended their evening hours to greater accommodate the needs of the students. Meal bundles are now offered at Eastside Market and Westside Market at their delis, which have lead to greater participation and value in the meal plans.In response to student feedback and following the installation of a new sink (funded by DOR) WW C-store expanded service with the addition of hot food items.

Panda Express, a leased operation that pays commissions to ISU Dining, changed their menu slightly this past year. The new offerings of sushi and orange chicken have been received very positively by students visiting Panda in the Memorial Union Food Court.

Caribou Coffee in the Hub continues to grow in sales and has been nationally recognized for this progress. Last year, this location was the named the Caribou Coffee franchise with the most improved weekly sales, beating out all other franchises including the Denver Airport location.Current sales surpass those of fall 2009 by 25% so it is likely that Caribou Coffee in the HUB will be awarded this distinction again.

ISU Dining was the recipient of many other awards in FY10 including the Environment Excellence Governor’s Award. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Grant for Farm to ISU will assist in growing the program. Farm to ISU hopes to work with Local Harvest on processing local fruits and vegetables in the future.

The next major project is the opening of a FROOTS smoothiefranchise concept in the new Recreation Services Center. This is currently planned to open during the fall 2012 semester.

As part of continuing philanthropic efforts, ISU Dining partnered with Special Olympics Iowa in June 2010 for a competition showcasing ISU Dining’s chefs. In addition to helping out this important cause, the ISU Dining also took this opportunity to get video footage of the chef’s at work and have their professional portraits made. This footage will be used in future marketing efforts

ISU Dining is currently working on a new, five year, strategic, master plan that will outline the future endeavors of ISU Dining. The plan will focus on clarifying the mission and vision of ISU Dining and establish plans for future facilities and program initiatives.

System changes that affected capacity from fall 2009 to fall 2010 included:

• Conversations Dining Center (formerly Oak-Elm) finished its remodel in July 2010 and opened for the fall semester.
• Linden Dining Center closed at the end of spring 2010 and has been repurposed as a Training Center.
• Business Café was closed for remodel from November 2009 to January 2010.

A number of additions have been made to the sustainability program for fall of 2010.One addition is the implementation of reusable to-go containers in the residential dining halls.Students can now purchase a clam shell container and use it for a takeout meal (a meal plan swipe is taken when used).Every subsequent time a student wants a to-go meal, the container must be returned washed and will be exchanged for a clean container to be used.The returned container is then run through the dish machine to ensure cleanliness.The use of reusable to-go containers supports sustainability as less items go into the trash than in non-reusable to-go programs and supports student needs by adding another layer of portability.

Another addition was the expansion of trayless service to the Union Drive Marketplace (UDM) and the newly remodeled Conversations Dining Center (formerly Oak-Elm).With these additions, all of residential dining is trayless and pulpers have been installed in their dish rooms for composting purposes.

In FY10, in response to H1N1 concerns, ISU dining offered supplies and flu kits in all five c-store locations.A recovery meal option was made available that allowed ill students living in residence to use their meal plans without infecting others.These recovery meals were specifically designed to match the nourishment need of students based on their individual level of illness.The ill student contacted the dining center in their area to request a recovery meal. Then a friend of the student picked the meal up and delivered it to the student. The meal was charged to the student’s meal plan as either a meal swipe or Dining Dollar$.

Enrollment and Occupancy

From fall 2009 to fall 2010, total University enrollment increased by 737 students (2.6%). The breakdown is as follows:

• 90 student increase (0.9%) in lower division enrollment, (12 freshmen, 78 sophomores)
• -34 student increase (-0.3%) in upper division enrollment
• 681 student increase (12.6%) in graduate and professional student enrollment

On-campus occupancy saw an overall increase of 297 students (2.0%), for a total of 9,403. The breakdown is as follows:

• Five student increase (0.6%) in lower division residence halls, (threeRichardson Court, two Union Drive)
• 61 student increase (7.4%) in upper division residence halls
• 148 student increase (5.0%) in student apartments (168 single student , -20 family)

Housing Capacity

In the residence halls and single-student apartments, eight spaces were lost due to the addition of wireless service in the residence halls (six spaces were converted to telecom utility closets) and two rooms being converted from triples to doubles (loss of two spaces).

During spring 2010 and summer 2010, the number of continuing student who recontracted to live on-campus for 2010-11 and the number of new incoming freshman began to grow beyond original projections. As the numbers of contracted students continued to increase, additional space needed to be generated in order to offer appropriate housing accommodations.

To increase capacity, care was taken to reduce the number of off-line, unused space held for medical issues or facilities projects. The net result was an increase of 234 bed spaces (2.5%) in single student capacity. The following changes were made:

• Five space increase (0.6%) in Richardson Court and Union Drive due to a decrease in the number of off-line spaces.
• One space increases (0.2%) in Buchanan Hall due to a decrease in the number of off-line spaces.
• One space increase (0.3%) in Wallace Hall due to the addition of a new staff space.
• 59 space increase (49.2%) in Wilson Hall due to the fifth floor being brought on-line (some rooms as doubles) to accommodate new freshmen women. The sixth floor was also brought on-line to accommodate additional student assignments and temporary housing for ISU students (on and off campus) displaced due to flood.
• One space increase (0.1%) in Frederiksen Court due to a decrease in the number of off-line spaces.
• 167 single student bed space increase (20.6%) in SUV due to the continued conversion of family units to single student and a decrease in the number of apartments off-line.

Based on historical demand, the decision was made to change the status of some apartments in the Schilletter and University Village (SUV) area. University Village had been designated as single-student housing and Schilletter Village had been designated Family Housing. As families move out of University Village, those apartments are being converted to single-student use. As a result, family housing capacity saw a slight decrease of 20 spaces (10.4%). Five Schilleter Village units (five spaces) were brought back on-line while 19 University Village units (25 spaces) were converted back to single student housing.

In aggregate, on-campus student housing capacity rose 2.3%, the equivalent of 214 bed spaces / units. It is important to note that without making some major programmatic changes, such as converting all Wallace-Wilson rooms to doubles, housing capacity does not have much room for expansion. There are 137 bed spaces currently off-line in Wilson on floor seven through ten. When added to the 127 vacancies that were available on count day, there is space for only 357 more residents. Of this total, only 53 are suitable for first-year student housing (based on current philosophy).

Room Styles & Rates

Choice continues to be very important to today’s students and their families. The DOR offers a number of different room styles and options. Room rates are determined based upon the type of room offered, location and physical condition of facility. The table on page ten outlines the number of available rooms by style and rate.

Peer Group Comparisons

In this era of increasing diversity in housing and dining availability on campuses nationwide, it is difficult to draw direct conclusions based upon peer group data. Using the aggregate of data, however, Iowa State University on-campus housing remains competitively priced when compared to the land-grant peer group. See tables on page nine.

Room Demand

The table on page 11 shows the breakdown of fall 2010 student requests for specific room types and locations. The demand figures are based only on the student’s first preference for product type and area.

Residence Hall Preferences

The top three residence hall preferences are:

• UD –Double Room – AC, Coed House (970)
• UD – Double Room – AC (586)
• RC – Double Room – AC, Coed House (549)

The bottom three residence hall preferences are:

• BH – Suite Double – 21+ (30)
• RC – Double Room – No AC (32)
• UD – Double Room – No AC, Sub. Free (38)

Friley Hall is the most popular residence hall, followed by Eaton/Martin, Larch/Willow and Maple halls. With the exception of Larch/Willow, demand in these building continues to exceed capacity.

Helser Hall is the least popular residence hall, followed by Linden, Wallace/Wilson, and Barton/Lyon/Freeman halls. With the exception of Barton/Lyon/Freeman, capacity in these buildings continues to exceed demand.

Requests for co-ed housing exceed requests for single-gender housing at a rate of 14.1 to 1.

Requests for air-conditioned housing exceed requests fornon-air-conditioned housing at a rate of 3.6 to 1.

Where both exist, requests for non-substance free housing exceed requests for substance free housing at a rate of 2.3 to 1.

Student Apartment Preferences

Overall requests for Frederiksen Court continue to increase.Requests for 2 bedroom shared apartments, which had previously been in decline, saw a25% increase. Demand for Frederiksen Court continues to exceed capacity.

In Schilletter Village, requests for family housing increased 74%, causing demand to exceed capacity for the first time in several years. This is partially due to the decrease in available family apartments.

In University Village the demand also saw a dramatic increase of 40%, although capacity still exceeded initial demand.

Guest Housing

Guest housing requests continue to rise, especially during the spring and summer, when demand exceeds supply. Guest units are being consolidated within Schilleter Village to allow better service to guests. As such the number of guests units will continue to fluctuate over the next year with the total number of units eventually settling at 70 furnished with a small number of unfurnished units being made available as student occupancy permits.

Currently, several guest units are off-line, acting as temporary housing for some students displaced from their University Village apartments due to flooding. Current guest occupancy sits at 69.5%, a 7.0% increase.

Meal Plan Buy-In

Fall 2010 has seen a 2.7% increase in meal plans purchased. This increase can beattributed to the increases in occupancy (3.0%) andan increase in voluntary meal plan purchases (2.2%).

Financial Data

Net revenue from operations during fiscal 2009-2010 was $22,827,275, an increase of $663,943 over fiscal year 2008-2009.

Capital Expenditures/Replacement Values

Iowa State University has made a strategic decision to target the majority of its capital dollars into specific facilities based upon current knowledge of future facility utilization. In-year priorities affect implementation of this strategy.

ENROLLMENT and OCCUPANCY

• All data is as of Count Day (10th class day) for the fall semester of the fiscal year.
• Enrollment Data can be found on the ISU Web Site:

* Note – Undergraduate specials (non-degree) included in upper division count.

EXPLANATION for VARIANCE in DESIGN, OFFERED and PROGRAM CAPACITY