The Aggie Inn will permanently close its doors in May after nearly five years of residence hall service.

The hotel-turned-residence hall was originally a temporary housing location. Created a little over four years and two housing directors ago, the Inn was leased by the University to assist with housing accommodations.

While Housing still battles the setbacks of yesteryear, director Leonard Jones says that it was the parents’ and students’ complaints that convinced the department to hold back on a lease renewal.

“Students and parents have a preference for housing that is closer to the campus,” Jones said. “And these aren’t parents of freshmen. These are sophomores, juniors and seniors! I mean, students want the [on-campus] experience.”

Residents at the Inn disagreed. Thomas Broadie, a former resident, says the distance of the Inn to the campus wasn’t a problem.

“We had the shuttles running, so you got used to that schedule,” Broadie said. “Soon I was able to get a car, but I still used the shuttle.”

Mark Allen Holland, a shuttle driver for the Inn, admitted that distance may have been a problem, but he felt that the upperclassmen in general preferred living at the Inn.

“Most of the upperclassmen are going to miss it,” Holland said. “It’s out here where they can get their studying done, and it’s more laid back; quiet.”

Holland also felt that the students who preferred on-campus living were dominantly freshmen.

“Most freshmen don’t like it out here, because they can’t do what they want; like they would on the yard,” Holland said, “but most upperclassmen will tell them, ‘look we’re trying to study. We’re trying to graduate.”

Jones agreed that the Inn had become a popular residence hall for students.

“We talked to students last November about possibly moving back to the campus since space had opened up,” Jones said. “We got less than 10 students wanting to leave Aggie Inn.”

Housing is considering various options to handle Inn residents and next year’s incoming freshmen. Recent fee increases have allowed Housing to raise boarding costs by 1.3%, thus creating more money for more options.

“We can talk about expanding renovation ideas now,” Jones said. “We’re looking at everything.”

While the department mulls over their options, residents have found themselves looking at their own list of housing possibilities for the next school year.

Two freshman roommates, Nick Mayo and Patrick Oates, say that they’ve grown too accustomed to the peace and quiet of the Inn to move onto the campus.

“I like having a place where I can get away and be by myself,” Mayo said.

“Like it’s our own place,” Oates added.

Both said they’d get an apartment before ever moving on-campus.The closing of the Inn was inevitable, yet there were still renovations made by the owner of the Inn in the summer of 2003. The semester before, the University also purchased two new shuttle vans in response to students’ complaints.

“We still have students there,” Jones said, ” it still has to be comfortable, and it has to be what we believe to be up to Aggie standards whether we’re ending it in May or if it continues for another four years from now.”

The University’s view of ‘Aggie standards’ will be put to the test next semester. Extra students must be housed without overcrowding the housing system.

“We’re looking at things that are going to continue to increase the living and learning environment that we’re trying to maintain.” Jones said, “We are not interested in just packing people in.”

• Jessica DeVault