Classy dorm alternative. Winona State’s Alumni House, on leafy Wabasha Street a block from campus, is being retrofitted for student housing to help address a shortage of dorm space. Image: Steve Lunde
Still called Alumni House but repurposed
WINONA, Minn. – Winona State plans cjnvert Alumni House, which provided overnight accommodations for university guests, will be converted into a mini-dorm. The yellow corner house, a block from campus, will house seven senior-level students. This arrangement, said campus housing chief Sarah Olcott, is helping ease a shortage of dorm space for rebounding enrollment. For fall the university has 2,022 students in dorms whose capacity had been 1,940. This time the Alumni House is one small part of the temporary situation for a problem that may ease in the spring, when housing needs typically dip with mid-year graduations and other attrition. Many years ago, when the university last had a housing shortage, some two-student dorm rooms were re-equipped with a bunk bed to cram in three students. This time the Alumni House is one small part of the temporary situation.
NOTE: This article has been revised from the original to correct an error.
Earlier: WSU’s new freshman numbers up 12%