by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
While other UNM students were unpacking their belongings in Coronado Hall, Kenneth Kreider was trying to break in.
"I'm locked out of my dorm room on my first day," Kreider said. "I have the key, but the lock is jammed."
Half an hour later, a maintenance worker came to the rescue and fixed his lock.
With a microwave in hand, Kreider entered his new home for the first time.
"The room is kind of small," he said, looking around. "But I'll get used to it."
Kreider, an incoming freshman, is among many other students who will be living on campus for the first time this year.
"I hope to meet new people and make some new friends," he said. "I think it's going to be worth the price."
Kreider's mother, Angela Rodriguez, is paying for the dorm and said living on campus is beneficial for one's education.
"I wanted him to move on campus to get more involved," Rodriguez said. "They say if you live in the dorms, you have a better chance of succeeding academically."
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Melanie Sparks, housing director at UNM, said there is another benefit to living on campus. Students living in the dorms can just roll out of bed in the morning 15 minutes before class begins, she said.
"It's all about location, location, location," Sparks said.
More than 2,000 students are living on campus this semester, she said. About 2,400 lived on campus last year.
Zach Johnson, a transfer student from Hendrix College in Arkansas, said it takes discipline to complete your homework while living on campus.
"Living on campus for the first time can be nerve-racking," Johnson said. "There were times where I had to hold myself up in the library."
Johnson, who lives in Coronado Hall, said his room is not only larger than his previous room, but also less expensive.
"My last room was the size of a walk-in closet," he said.
A double occupancy dorm room at UNM costs $1,929 a semester, which does not include the optional meal plan, according UNM's residence housing Web site.
A meal plan is required for residents of Alvarado, Coronado, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Laguna/DeVargas and Hokona Hall, according the Web site. Freshmen living in Student Residence Center and Redondo Village dormitories are required to have a meal plan unless they are over 21, the Web site states.
Depending on the individual's appetite, the meal plan can range anywhere from $650 to $1,350.
Johnson, who has been living on campus since last week, didn't have much to say about La Posada's food.
"The cafeteria food is all right," he said.
Despite the food, he said he is excited about meeting his roommate. He said this would be the first time he has lived with a roommate he didn't know prior to moving in with him.
"I knew my former roommates from club soccer," he said. "My new roommate sounds like a really great guy on the phone."
Then a male student walked in the room and introduced himself as Shane Lewis - Johnson's roommate.
The roommates shook hands and quickly began to talk about how they were going to arrange the room.
Though Lewis said he was excited about living in the dorms for the first time, he wasn't eager about beginning his classes.
"Summer wasn't long enough," he said.
Johnson said he'd recommend every college student try living in the dormitories at least once.
"It seems to me you can't have the college experience if you don't live in the dorms for at least a year," he said.
Dominic Riccobene, an incoming freshman, was not as enthusiastic about living on campus.
"I've lived in Albuquerque all my life," Riccobene said. "The dorms are just another place to live."
