ROCK SPRINGS — Under Western Wyoming Community College’s current policy, campus residence hall housing is designated for full-time students only.

During a recent board meeting with Western’s Board of Trustees, the board heard from Dr. Dustin Conover, Western Dean of Students about allowing part-time students housing.

Conover said part-time students are not eligible for college housing and he expressed support to the board for a possible change to that policy which would then allow part-time students to live in Western residence halls.

Such a policy change “will increase housing use and revenue,” Conover said. However, revenue increase was hardly the only reason for giving consideration to allowing part-time students to live in campus housing, according to Conover. The change would allow for a better college experience for part-time students. Conover said, and would, among other things, eliminate the worry that some full-time students have that if they drop a difficult course and reduce their status to part-time, they could lose their eligibility for campus housing.

Under the proposed change, campus housing would be open to any student taking at least one for-credit course at Western, Conover explained.

There was support for the housing proposal among some board members, but not without certain potential issues being addressed. Trustee Kenneth Lorimer said he liked Conover’s idea, but he expressed concern that when he was in the military, some dormitory space that was not being used had been suggested as possible housing for homeless individuals. Lorimer asked if that could happen to campus housing at WWCC if individuals with much lower credit loads were allowed to live in campus residence halls.

No matter how many or how few credits that a residence hall student is taking, a campus housing resident must be a student, Conover responded. “They must go through the application process,” the Dean of Students said, and meet other requirements that Western has for campus living.

“Central Wyoming Community College has been doing it for many years,” Conover said regarding part-time students living in residence halls. He added that he was not concerned the proposed new housing policy would be taken unfair advantage of.

Trustee George Eckman said if the proposal is adopted, he would want it to stipulate that full-time students would still have first priority for campus housing.

Conover acknowledged that many full-time students “desperately need” campus housing, and added that priority for full-time students could be incorporated into any change in policy.

In response to other questions from the board, Conover said that married occupants living in campus housing must have at least one spouse registered as a full-time student. Children are not currently allowed to live in Western residence housing, although in past years children were present in campus living quarters. In order for any change in the existing age policy, there must first be ways to ensure the safety of any children residing with parents in campus housing, Conover said.

The board took no action on Conover’s proposal, and further discussion will ensue. “We are talking about it,” Conover said.

Other Business

Western President Kim Dale discussed her meeting with state legislators to clarify community college funding mechanisms. While doing so, Dale informed the board that
Western has the most part-time students of any community college in the state.

Eckman suggested that international students could benefit from opportunities to experience American cultural activities which they would never learn about otherwise. Eckman specifically referenced the possibility of busing international students to events such as the Fort Bridger Rendezvous. The board unanimously approved solicitation of bids for a new “Palo Alto firewall”.