STARKVILLE — It takes Hunter Myrick four hours to drive from Starkville to his house in Gulfport.
Well, it’s his parents’ house, really.
Myrick, a freshman at Mississippi State University, moved into South Hall in August, and like so many other fresh-faced 18-year-olds in Myrick’s residence hall, this the first time he has ever been on his own, an experience he is still getting used to.
Despite all of the newness, there is one thing that Myrick says has made the transition much simpler.
“We can get it as cold as we want to in here, which is pretty awesome,” he said, pointing to the personal thermostat in his dorm room, which he shares with roommate Robby Kiefer. “It’s really about the same size as my room at home, probably bigger. Besides living with another guy, it’s pretty much like living at home.”
Built in 2010, the $25 million South Hall houses 350 beds, two in each fully furnished (refrigerator included) room, individual thermostats, private baths, free wireless Internet, extended cable and HBO.
Ready to move in?
So was The Fiscal Times, which selected MSU as one of the “10 Public Colleges with Insanely Luxurious Dorms.” The article specifically highlighted Hurst Hall, but Hurst was built in 2006, and with the addition of three new residence halls since, it only seems right to assume the newer buildings, South Hall, Magnolia and Oak, are just as nice, if not nicer.
For MSU and colleges across the country, renovating old dorms and building new ones that provide top notch amenities has almost uniformly increased enrollment numbers.
Abby Spann, marketing and communications coordinator in the department of Housing and Residence Life, said there isn’t really a way to correlate the numbers. However, MSU’s enrollment has increased steadily since 2004, two years prior to the construction of Zacharias Village, where Hurst is located.
The newest editions to the campus, Magnolia and Oak, are two mirrored, L-shaped buildings that cost approximately $40 million.
Each building measures 130,000 square feet, houses 382 beds each and both were constructed in a little over a year.
These dorms surpass those of the other schools in the state by a long shot, which may one of the reasons MSU has the largest student population among the state’s eight universities.
While university officials may be welcoming the increased attention, Myrick said he is a little worried about the repercussions.
“When my friends from Oxford come down they are probably going to hate me,” he said.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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