Students may have recently noticed a series of advertisements for the off-campus housing company, Lakeside Commons, making their way around campus.
As per SUNY regulations, solicitation, as was seen with these advertisements, is illegal on state university property.
“There is no solicitation on state university campuses,” said Rick Kolenda, assistant vice president for Residence Life and Housing.
Even students are held to this no-solicitation policy, which is outlined on page 83 of the SUNY Oswego Student Handbook.
“The College does not permit the use of the campus for solicitation of students by students acting as agents, or on behalf of an external entity, or by any external entities as they interfere with the educational purposes and activities of the College,” according to the student handbook.
A truck with a large banner on the bed, advertising for the currently under-construction housing community just to the west of campus, was seen driving around the streets of campus multiple times, as the company advertised the Lakeside Commons open house.
Lakeside Commons is currently under construction and is down NY-104, less than a mile from the entrance to campus. The property is a “student townhouse community” with 84 individual units planned for a total of 320 available spaces for students. The property is managed by NDG Capital Partners, which is responsible for the construction of other student housing communities at Binghamton University, SUNY Oneonta and North Carolina State University Centennial Campus. The company also manages some of the properties it owns through the separate company NDG Student Living.
NDG Student Living licensed its advertising to a third-party advertising agency and was not aware that the agency was advertising for Lakeside Commons illegally.
“If there was any foul play on our end, we apologize,” said Jerry Wojenski, executive vice president and chief operating officer for NDG Student Living.
Wojenski said that, while nobody from Oswego State has spoken to NDG Student Living directly, they had been informed about the issue by a student employee of theirs.
“We actually did reach out just last week to our third-party marketing group and told them we do not want that to happen again,” Wojenski said.
According to Nick Lyons, vice president for administration and finance at Oswego State, once he was made aware of the illegal advertising on campus, he asked University Police to talk to the advertiser and tell them to stop.
“When I saw the vehicle from [Lakeside Commons] housing was on campus, that is something that we don’t allow,” Lyons said.
The Oswego property is directly owned by NDG Capital Partners. It advertises its units with a price range of $790 per installment and up, in a series of 12 installments, according to Wojenski. The price varies based on the amenities selected by the tenant.
Those 12 installments of $790 or more equal a base price of $9,480 per tenancy period. For comparison, a student currently eligible for tenancy in The Village, the on-campus student townhouse community managed by Residence Life and Housing, would pay $10,590 as a senior, or $10,790 as a junior, provided their first year at Oswego State was when they were a freshman.
The difference in price between what a junior pays for The Village and what a senior pays for the same space is attributed to the Oswego Guarantee, wherein for four consecutive academic years, the price a student pays for housing or for their meal plan will not increase.
The Oswego Guarantee essentially locks in the price of all housing and meal plans available on campus to the price those services were when the student first started at Oswego State.
“It depends on the year that you’re matriculated, that’s what you pay for all the years that you’re here,” Kolenda said.
On-campus student housing prices for the room have increased by $200 per year since the 2014-2015 academic year.
Photo by: Alexander Gault- Plate | The Oswegonian
