From: Michael.Kwun@um.cc.umich.edu
Subject:  Re: Co-op rent question and Bay area Co-ops
Followup-To: <#2Q-kK=@engin.umich.edu>
Summary: longer explanation of rate structure at ICC-AA
Keywords: rate structure ICC student housing
Reply-To: kwun@umich.edu
Organization: University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 08:19:15 GMT

In article  <#2Q-kK=@engin.umich.edu>
,  blagdon@engin.umich.edu (Kenneth James Clark ) writes:
>Ok, I have a question.  I've been wondering this for a while, and the
>people I've spoken to either wonder it themselves, or have no idea:  why
>do you charge the same amount per person, regardless of number of people?
>
>We do the same thing here, and it really makes no sense to me.  Is this
>done to simplify accounting?  This seems grossly unfair to new people 
>coming into the system.  They can almost never choose a single room, and
>end up paying the same price as someone living in a single.
>
>
>Ken
 
I assume Ken is from ICC-AA from his e-mail address, and I'm from ICC-AA, too,
(tho I summering at the USCA, where Meredith is from...) so I thought I'd
just mention that in the ICC-AA, we charge the same rate for all rooms
in fourteen of our eighteen houses, and even in those houses we adopt a
split rate structure in the summer.  
 
Perhaps I ought to just explain our system and justify it along the way...
 
the U of Michigan has one main campus called "Central Campus" and we have
sixteen houses close to it.  Two are apartment houses, and each individual
unit in the apartments is priced differently (ok, some are priced the same,
but all could be priced differently).  The other fourteen central campus
houses work like this:
   During the fall and winter terms (September thru April), all rooms are
charged at the same rate.  I don't know why this originally was so, and no
doubt we continue to do so because of tradition, but I think it makes sense;
in the student co-ops (at least in Ann Arbor), we experience 35-60%
membership turnover every year.  To a certain extent, continuity in 
membership is good, so it's a good idea to have an incentive to stay in the
co-ops--like seniority and the possibility of singles.  
   During the spring and summer (May thru August), we charge doubles at
a different rate than singles; rooms that are normally triples must be
filled as doubles, but the rest of the rooms are optionally singles or
doubles, pretty much at the choice of the contract signers.  Our charges 
have two components:  centralized ICC charges (staffing, taxes, loans
payments, insurance, most maintenance, committees, scholarships, CCDC
dues, other co-op dues, and various other things I can't remember at the
moment) and house charges (utilities, newspapers, phone, laundry, paper
goods, food in the fall and winter, social events, house amenities, some
minor maintenance items, general house supplies, etc.).  During the 
summer, ICC charges are by room and house charges are by person, which 
generally means about $170 for a single and $120 for a double (a month, no
food).
 
Ok, we also have two other houses which are on North Campus, which is about
five miles north (of course) of Central Campus.  These are our two biggest
houses, and are actually in the same building.  In these houses there are
small singles, large singles and doubles.  The small singles are always
singles and are at one rate.  The doubles are the large singles are the 
same rooms; they are doubles if two people are in the rooma nd singles if
there is only one in the room--this is at the choice of the contract holders.
The charges for these rooms are like central campus summer rooms; ICC charges
are by the room, house charges by the person.
   This allows new members to get singles, and that is attractive to some
students, particularly grad students--our North Campus houses are often
over 85% graduate students.
 
So the (very long winded) story is that the ICC-AA uses equalized and
differential charges, depending on the house and the time of year.  Both
systems have advantages and disadvantages....
 
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