For many post-secondary students, moving into rental accommodation can give a whole new meaning to the term “homework.”

Calls to set up billing arrangements for phone and utility services, Internet providers and cable TV are often followed by parking or transportation hassles on top of the first-semester experience of living with a new roommate.

But for more than 1,000 students attending Mount Royal College in Calgary this fall, everything but roommate compatibility is assured following a whirlwind 14 months of construction on new residences, which have more than doubled available space for on-campus student housing to just more than 1,000 beds. It’s the first expansion of the college’s residence facilities since the existing units were built for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

What makes the new residences particularly attractive, however, is a technology backbone that provides everything from IP-based phones and high-speed Internet to smart-card-activated security, all pre-installed and included in the monthly rental price.

Larry MacDougal photo, Business Edge
Brian Fleming tours a new MRC West Court student residence.

“It’s one stop for everything,” says Brian Fleming, director of campus life at MRC.

“It’s like going to a hotel room where you open up the door and everything is there and everything works. And you don’t have to worry about gas or electrical bills or ordering a phone.”

The existing residences on the Lincoln Park campus have also been retrofitted with the new wired technology. Telco services have been contracted out to a consortium led by Bell Canada, in partnership with Cisco and RAM Computer Solutions. The in-suite voiceover IP phone screens will eventually be able to provide everything from messages reminding students that their tuition is due to the time of the Cougars basketball game, or even the phone number and menu of the local pizza joint.

There are four apartment-style buildings in the new residence cluster, featuring either four or five floors, with specially designed living spaces for students with physical challenges. Five more townhouse-style buildings, all fully furnished, feature four bedrooms with two bathrooms, as well as a kitchen area with stove and fridge. While spartan in decor, many of the units have floor-to-ceiling windows. Students will share an onsite laundry as well as a common social area and a games room.

College IT director Doug Dunwoody says the residences provided an opportunity to build in the kind of technology today’s students need to succeed. The college wanted to create communities of learning within the student residences, where students could continue their studies away from their classrooms but still have access to the same level of technology offered in their programs. Students living in the residences will be able to bring in their own computers, purchase a discounted new unit through MRC’s partnership with Dell, or rent or buy one of MRC’s used computers, which will be serviced and maintained by college IT students.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but our vision is to provide convenience and options to all of our students . . . rather than forcing them to go one way,” adds Dunwoody.

The college is also heading toward a wireless horizon, and plans are afoot to build several hotspots around campus within the year. The University of Calgary will also be offering wireless Internet to its on-campus students this year.

The expansion and IT- retrofit of MRC’s student residences are part of an ambitious $175-million multi-phase growth plan that will see the college add new and renovated buildings and facilities for academic, athletic and recreation programs, as well as a new centre for wired and wireless technology.

A $94-million capital grant from the provincial government allowed the college to move forward on Phase I and II of a six-phase expansion. The college’s own Bright Minds, Bright Futures campaign continues to work toward its $25-million fund-raising goal.

Much of the groundwork for MRC’s expansion was laid by outgoing president Tom Wood during his 13 years at the college. This week, David Marshall, formerly president and vice-chancellor at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., becomes MRC’s eighth president. Marshall was instrumental in helping Nipissing make the transition from a college to a university, one of MRC’s primary goals.