Five-year, $15.3 million effort is modernizing KU’s older scholarship halls

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University Student Housing is in the middle of a multimillion-dollar project that will renovate its eight oldest scholarship halls. Four halls have already been renovated, while work is in progress or planned for, clockwise from top left, Grace Pearson, Watkins, Battenfeld and Miller halls.

Kansas University Student Housing is in the middle of a multimillion-dollar project that officials say will lift its eight oldest scholarship halls — a student housing offering that is unique to KU — into the next half century.

“This is an aggressive effort to breathe new life into that infrastructure and keep these halls viable for another 30 to 40 years,” housing director Diana Robertson said.

The scholarship halls being renovated were built between the 1920s and the 1950s, Robertson said.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University's Miller Scholarship Hall, pictured Friday, June 10, 2016, is currently undergoing a million renovation.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University's Watkins Scholarship Hall, pictured Friday, June 10, 2016, is currently undergoing a .1 million renovation.

Complete heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical infrastructure overhauls — “basically gutting out all the mechanicals” — is the most critical part of the renovations, she said. Work also includes remodeling of the halls’ community kitchens and cosmetic updates such as new paint and furniture.

Renovations to Stephenson, Pearson, Sellards and Douthart were completed in 2014 and 2015, at a cost of about $1.8 million apiece, Robertson said.

This summer, workers are active inside the university’s two oldest scholarship halls, both located on Lilac Lane: Miller, built in 1927, and Watkins, built in 1926. Project costs are estimated at $2 million for Miller and $2.1 million for Watkins, according to KU’s capital improvement plan.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University's Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall, pictured Friday, June 10, 2016, is scheduled for a .8 million renovation in the summer of 2017.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University's Battenfeld Scholarship Hall, pictured Friday, June 10, 2016, is scheduled for a .2 million renovation in the summer of 2018.

Grace Pearson is scheduled to be renovated in summer 2017, at a cost of $1.8 million. Prior to the main renovation scheduled next summer, there is work going on now at Grace Pearson to mitigate basement flooding, Robertson said.

Battenfeld is scheduled to be renovated in summer 2018, at a cost of $2.2 million.

That brings the overall cost to renovate all eight halls to about $15.3 million.

KU Student Housing repair and reserve funds are paying for most of the scholarship hall renovations, along with some much-appreciated donations, Robertson said.

“We charge less for students to live there, so it’s very challenging,” she said.

In total KU has 12 halls — six men’s and six women’s — all located at the east edge of campus, adjacent to Lawrence’s Oread neighborhood. The halls house 585 students.

Because they’re cooperative living buildings, the scholarship halls cost close to $2,000 less per year than residence halls, said KU Student Housing associate director Kip Grosshans. Residents do their own cleaning, cook their own group meals and organize their own shifts for those duties.

“The students run their own show,” Grosshans said. “The stuff that we pay to have done by staff is done cooperatively by the residents themselves. So we have less expenses, and that’s passed directly on to the students.”

Scholarship hall applicants are considered on factors such as high school GPA, standardized test scores and financial need, Grosshans said. They also must provide references and complete a personal essay about cooperative living, which is reviewed by a selection committee.

Demand to live in the scholarship halls is high — there are always more applications than spaces, Grosshans said. Many students live in them all four years, so turnover is low.

Grosshans and Robertson said a few other universities have a scholarship hall, or two, but they are unaware of any other school with a scholarship hall system like KU’s. At housing conferences they often find themselves explaining KU’s scholarship halls to peers.

“It’s still seen as one of KU’s most unique opportunities for students,” Robertson said. “There’s such interactivity and really a strong sense of community.”


KU scholarship hall renovation schedule

Kansas University Student Housing is midway through a multimillion project to renovate the university’s eight older scholarship halls, constructed from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Renovated in 2014: Stephenson, Pearson and Sellards

Renovated in 2015: Douthart

Being renovated this summer: Miller and Watkins

Slated for renovation in 2017: Grace Pearson

Slated for renovation in 2018: Battenfeld

KU has 12 total scholarship halls, six men’s and six women’s.

Source: KU Student Housing