Pitt-Bradford to house students at Best Western during fall semester

First year UPB students are seen awaiting housing assignments in this recent photo taken during orientation last month.  The second-largest freshman class in university history means record-breaking requests for housing on campus. About 50 upperclass students have been offered the chance to live in the Best Western Bradford Inn during the fall semester.  Alan Hancock Photo

BRADFORD, PA – With the second-largest freshman class ever enrolling at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford this fall, the university will once again house some of its students for the fall term at the Best Western Bradford Inn.

About 50 upperclass students with confirmed spaces on campus were given the option to switch to the Best Western, where they will be able to ride the Area Transportation Authority bus service to campus and eat at the hotel’s continental breakfast each morning. The students were offered an incentive in the form of a $500 on-campus credit for use toward books, supplies and food on campus. The purpose of the incentive is to create more bed space on campus in order to continue the tradition of having all freshmen live on campus.

This is not the first time that Pitt-Bradford has used the Best Western to accommodate some of its students, having used blocks of rooms in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. The university opened its 144-bed Howard L. Fesenmyer House in the fall of 2008, its 103-bed Sarah B. Dorn House in the fall of 2010, and has plans to begin construction on a new 109-bed residence hall in September. The current capacity of on-campus housing is 935 students.

“We try to accommodate as many students as possible who wish to reside on campus, but occasionally, we have to resort to local hotels or other off-campus housing when we experience surges in enrollment,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, president of Pitt-Bradford. “This year, we’re pleasantly surprised by a record number of new students and are scrambling to find space on campus for all our new freshmen.”

Students at the Best Western will have a resident advisor, just as students on campus do, and the university will provide a security service as well as the services of campus police. Rooms will be blocked together on the third floor and will make use of the furniture that has been ordered for the new residence hall. They will be equipped with microwave ovens and refrigerators just as rooms on campus are.

The proposed new residence hall, which must receive final approval by the University of Pittsburgh, is part of a master plan to not only increase but also upgrade housing on campus.