KIMBERLY WILCOX | features editor

The office of housing makes big changes to housing options in order to create intentional community.

One of the main goals for the Housing Office this coming school year is to create intentional community, and with that goal comes a number of changes.

When the school purchased Crestview, the Housing Office saw an opportunity to make on-campus living both available and affordable. They also saw a way to accomplish their goal of creating intentional community, where students will be able to live with their friends and create a community they designed.

“In some ways, [the existing] architecture drives our philosophy,” Director of Housing Lanny Cram said.

This fall will bring many changes to APU as the Housing Office creates new options for students. Since APU now has several more apartments available in Crestview for students; Bowles and Alosta Place will be out of the housing inventory for students and those spaces will be available for Azusa city community members.

Freshmen will continue to be housed in the dormitories. The Shire, University Park and Crestview will be open for sophomores, juniors and seniors. All three locations will house two students per room. So a two-bedroom apartment would house four students and a single bedroom apartment would house two.

“Folks can live anywhere,” Cram said. “We think that they’re all good options.”

Registration this year will favor those students who place themselves in completed roommate groups. Registration will be similar to years past, in that it will take place in waves.

However, this year the first wave will be comprised of all groups who come to registration as a completed group ready to fill an entire apartment.

The second wave will be for groups that are missing one or more of the number of roommates necessary to fill their desired housing space. After that, all single person groups will be placed in openings.

Contracts are also changing. If students desire, they may sign up for a 12-month rental contract in Crestview. They will still be required to pay for their summer housing, however, this cost will be reasonable.

“In theory, this year’s freshmen could move out of Trinity on graduation weekend, move into Crestview and stay there till [their] graduation,” Cram said.

There may also be a cost break for students who are willing to live with three people in a one-bedroom apartment. Those living in a two-bedroom apartment have the option to live with five people instead of four.

Cram said if students are willing to live with more people, they will be payed less. When someone rents an apartment, they split the rent by however many people are living there.

APU will do the same thing. If three people move into an apartment, they too can split their cost three ways, rather than the normal two.

The changes are designed to help students live on campus with friends in a comfortable environment and a Christ-centered community.