Building more on-campus housing for ASU students has been a priority of President Michael Crow.
Student government officials say eliminating the housing crunch would increase the sense of community on campus.
Now, regular students are being asked to give input on what new housing should look like.
A facility planning and project management firm sent out a survey last week to all students attending ASU Main regarding the future of on-campus housing for the University.
The 50-question survey was sent to students through e-mail by the facility planning and project management firm Brailsford and Dunlavey in an effort to determine how students would feel about additional housing on campus and what their preferences are.
The survey asked students how important on-campus housing is to them, why they would or would not want to live on campus and how many people they would want to live with in a suite.
It also addressed factors like parking and dining services that could determine whether or not a student would be interested in living on campus.
Students who fill out the survey have the opportunity to win prizes, like DVD and CD players.
Undergraduate student government President Brandon Goad said that he felt the survey was a step in the right direction because bringing more housing to campus would make the University more traditional.
"Students can be a part of the community instead of just coming to campus for classes and then leaving when they're over," Goad said.
Goad added that the need for on-campus housing continues to rise.
"At the beginning of the semester I had upset freshmen coming to my office complaining that there wasn't enough housing available," Goad said.
He also said that all he could tell the freshmen was to put their names on the waiting list and hope for the best.
Journalism junior Casey Perry said that because ASU is growing dramatically in size, the University should compensate for the growth by adding more residence halls for students who want to live on campus.
Perry also said he lived on campus at Palo Verde Main during his freshman year, but he would never do it again.
"My freshman year was a good experience, but you don't have a lot of freedom in the dorms," Perry said. "There is always somebody watching you and telling you what to do."
Perry has since moved into a house, which he said is much better than living on campus.
"I can do whatever I want, and I have privacy," he said. "In a dorm, you don't have privacy."
History junior Sarah Juettner said the need for more housing is growing, but she does not know if ASU has space for more buildings.
"We're lacking room to expand as it is. What [ASU] needs to do is take out all those nasty frat houses," Juettner said. "The 1950s are over, and [fraternities] don't need a whole house to themselves anymore."
Juettner added that the need for housing for nonresident students seemed to be much greater than it is for resident students.
"Out-of-state students who don't have homes here need to have more on-campus housing available," she said.
Juettner, who always has resided with a roommate or a family member, said she's never lived on campus simply because there was never a need for it.
"It also just never appealed to me because there isn't any privacy," she added.
Assistant Vice President of strategic communications and public affairs, Nancy Neff, said that ASU President Crow had expressed interest in adding on-campus housing in the past.
"One of the things that President Crow wanted to do when he first came to ASU was to increase campus housing," she said. "He really feels it is important."
Although Crow has shown interest in additional housing, Neff said he had no connection to the current survey.
Reach the reporter at pamela.j.coffman@asu.edu.
