A new Residential Life giveaway may be music to some residents' ears.
This year, Residential Life is offering free MP3 players if eligible students apply by 5 p.m. Friday.
Students applying for housing renewals for next year at the Commons at ASU and certain wings of Cholla, Best, Hayden, Irish, Mariposa, Ocotillo and Sahuaro halls will be eligible to receive a free Apple iPod Mini or Dell Music DJ.
Typical MP3 players are portable and can be connected to computers to store hundreds of music files.
The players will be given out on May 4, 2005. Students must not cancel their application before May 1, 2005, the cancellation deadline, in order to receive the MP3 player.
Apple lists its iPod Mini, a smaller version of its iPod player, at $249. Dell lists its Pocket DJ, intended to compete with the iPod, at $199.
Residential Life will pay the full price of the iPods with money from its marketing budget, said Misty Calleroz, associate director of Residential Life. The total cost of the iPods will not be known until all applications are received, Calleroz said.
Calleroz said renewal application deadlines have always existed before winter break, and added that the giveaway program started in order to fill more bed spaces at an earlier time, and to encourage more upperclassmen to apply, Calleroz said.
"We decided [to give away iPods] so we can encourage upper-class students to return to campus," Calleroz said. "The reason for the deadline [before winter break] is to make sure we can fill our spaces as soon as possible," Calleroz said."
Students who apply for the Commons at ASU also will be eligible to have summer housing application fees waived.
Pre-business freshman Kyle Westfall said he wanted to renew his apartment in Cholla Apartments, so he planned to turn his application in early to get an iPod.
"I figure if I'm going to do it anyway, why not get it in early and get a free iPod?" Westfall said.
But fellow Cholla resident Dominique Johnson, an undeclared freshman, said she wasn't going to apply to live in the building for a second year.
"Even with the free iPod, it's not worth it," she said.
Reach the reporter at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
