Students living in Hawks Ridge may have to start making new plans for living arrangements next year, because the University of Iowa will no longer be affiliated with the complex. At the end of October, students living in the Hawks Ridge building were informed the UI would end its lease with the complex at the end of this academic year, and therefore, it would not be available for university off-campus housing after May 2014.

The UI currently leases one building in the complex. After the end of the academic year, this building will join the other three being managed by Campus Advantage, a company based in Austin, Texas. Campus Advantage was formed in 2003 and came to Iowa City in 2011. Von Stange, the senior director of University Housing and Dining, said the UI had decided not to renew the lease, because of vacancies in the residence halls.

“We had fewer returning and transfer students living in residence halls,” Stange said. In the past, the UI has had an overflow in students staying in the dorms, causing students to live in expanded housing. In September 2013, only 50 students were living in residence-hall study lounges in Stanley, Slater, and Daum, down by one-third from last year.

Stange said students who wished to remain at Hawks Ridge would have to lease separately once the academic-year lease finished or else find university housing. University Housing and Dining will begin the reapplication process in early February, and students are to expect information about the process sometime this December.

Students will be able to apply for housing in any residence hall or in a off-campus leased property, such as Centerstone, Dubuque House, and Bloomington House. Graduate students will be able to lease apartments at Aspire at West Campus, next to Hawkeye Court Apartments. Students, however, are less than thrilled with the change.

“It’s disappointing, because Hawks Ridge is kind of amazing,” said Katelyn Boeshart, who currently lives in Hawks Ridge. Boeshart said she had chosen Hawks Ridge because of its price, which was cheaper than the dorms, and it was fully furnished.

“It’s a lot more affordable when you can go through [UI] housing,” Boeshart said. Without the prices the UI offered, Boeshart and other students must question whether they can continue living in the dorms, or if it is worth it.

“It’s really far from pretty much everything but Walmart,” Boeshart said. Boeshart also said she was unsure if she would even be able to afford living in Hawks Ridge once the prices changed, and she might have to find an apartment closer to campus.

George Daniel, a student also currently living at Hawks Ridge, is deciding whether or not he will stay in the complex, but he said there was not as much of a reason to stay if the prices changed. “If prices go up, there’s not much incentive to live that far away from campus,” Daniel said.