Cougar Hall opens for class of 2022
By Salimah McCullough | Published by Oct. 3, 2018
This Fall semester, Kean opened up a brand-new dorm called Cougar Hall made especially for incoming freshmen to enjoy. It is a new building located across the street from Harwood Arena right on the cougar walk.
When move in day arrived, the dorm filled with 380 new students who were excited to be the first to live in this new dormitory bringing the population of residential students to 2,100 residents or 13 percent of the total university student body.
According to Margaret McCorry, Director of Media Relations, “Cougar Hall was built to accommodate the freshmen who were formerly housed in Whiteman and Dougall Hall”. Since Cougar Hall has been built, the older freshmen dorms Whiteman and Dougall, no longer hold residents.
When comparing the dormitories by price per semester, Cougar Hall is still one of the most expensive but isn’t as expensive as New Upper Residence Hall. Cougar Hall comes up to a total of $5,750.00 and New Upper comes to a total of $6,374.00. The only difference between the two is that New Upper comes with a living room including a couch, and chair, along with more storage and in order to get to live in Cougar Hall, you must be a freshman.
Between these prices falls the Freshman Residence Hall coming to a total of $5,611.00 while the other four upperclassmen dorms (Bartlett, Sozio, Burch, and Rogers) total up to $5,343.00 a semester.
Cougar Hall is six stories tall and filled with various amenities like a tutoring center and a kitchen. Each dorm room has two bedroom suites along with a shared bathroom and kitchenette. Within each bedroom, students are given a full refrigerator, a microwave, dining table, a vanity area, and lots of storage for all of their belongings.
“It’s very convenient to have a kitchen area in the dorm. I love it.” Zakiyah Johnson, an undecided freshman thinking about majoring in architectural engineering, said.
This new dorm building makes it easy for freshmen to still feel comfortable and have the resources needed to live away from home.
Alyssa Antoine, freshman and biology/ health professions major, is very excited to live in the new dorms. “I love living here. It feels like a modern apartment and is easy to decorate,” Antoine states.
With access to multiple lounge areas, a laundry room, and game room; freshmen can still have fun while learning how to live on their own and have more responsibility. This new dorm prepares students for life after living with their parents.
Many students are excited to use the amenities that Cougar Hall has to offer that are still under construction. Johnson states that she is “very excited for the game room to finally be open”
Many students wondered why the new dorm wasn’t given to upperclassmen since they have been on campus longer. McCorry states that “highest demand for on-campus housing comes from freshmen” which explains why Cougar Hall was given to first year students.