Built in 2004, Chaparral Village offers students two and four bedroom apartment-style dorms and provides several amenities such as study rooms, a public pool and basketball courts. 

Sophomore public health major Jonas Halloway pointed out the difference between living on-campus versus living at home, and how he has been able to meet other students with relative ease.

“It’s alright, it’s a lot different from just going home and doing laundry by yourself and things like that,” Halloway said. “I feel like it’s good for first year students …since you are on campus you get to meet more people around you. I have met a solid amount of people through GroupMe, they seem pretty cool because we all live around each other and we go to the laundry room and just hang out there sometimes.”

Halloway’s sentiment echoes Annie D’Arcy’s, a sophomore environmental science major, who emphasized the differences in living.

“I think it’s definitely easier living on campus versus living at home,” D’Arcy said. “[At home] you are just alone and can’t talk to people easily, so it is really nice to have roommates because you can talk to them and go eat lunch together, go to the gym together and stuff like that.”

Despite being a sophomore, this is D’Arcy’s first year on-campus. She previously stayed at home in Dallas because of the pandemic. Similarly, sophomore Augi Panalez, who is majoring in mechanical engineering, spent the previous year at home and moved on campus at the beginning of the semester. Panalez also enjoys living on campus and finds it to be more beneficial than living at home.

“Yes [I like living on campus] — this is a lot easier than being at home,” Panalez said. “Like the tutoring center, I feel like I live there most days, but I am enjoying it and learning a lot more than I did at home.”

A majority of students overwhelmingly enjoyed living at Chaparral Village. Students did mention some problems in getting work orders completed. Asa Gordan, freshman mechanical engineering student, mentioned both the inconvenience in sharing a restroom as well as the issues with work orders. 

“Sharing a bathroom is a little uncomfortable, but other than that the only thing I don’t like is the work orders are slow; if I put one in it takes forever,” Gordan said. 

Halloway also mentioned that he had issues getting work orders completed for his dorm. 

“When you fill out a work order they don’t always come; for instance, we have a hole in our wall, so we kind of have to get that one fixed,” Halloway said. 

Aside from the work order, students mentioned other slight inconveniences. For instance, freshman biology major Juan Castillo mentioned that the water comes out slowly from his faucet and D’Arcy conveyed how the noise from the apartments above and around her complex becomes slightly annoying. 

One of the requirements for living on-campus is that students with fewer than 48 completed credits hours must purchase a meal plan. Castillo pointed out how expensive the meal plan can be and that perhaps they should be cheaper.  

“Personally, I feel like regardless of which meal plan you get, it’s expensive. I have the 150 meal swipes plan, but I just feel like it’s alright …the prices should be a little cheaper,” Castillo said. 

Gordan mentioned that while his meal plan works for him, the food from the Roadrunner Cafe is often the same and it can become tiring at some points. D’Arcy shared similar sentiments and stated she liked the meal plan, but the food often lacks variety. 

“I think the meal plan is helpful because you don’t have to cook and plan out your meals everyday, but sometimes the food in the cafeteria can be kind of bad … they serve the same stuff over and over again so it can be kind of boring,” D’Arcy said. 

Both Gordan and Halloway said they plan on living in off-campus apartments next year, but Castillo and Panalez said they would try to live on-campus because it has been such a beneficial experience for them. 

“I actually like it a lot,” Castillo said. “It’s convenient to be on campus because I am close to a lot of things. It’s a lot of walking, but I get in my steps for the day. They are very well maintained. When my roommates and I moved in, that was one of the first things we said about the dorm … we like that we have our own private room and private space.”

Gordon mentioned he enjoys the apartment-style layout, and Halloway appreciated that every roommate had their own room and own space. 

In terms of roommates, again, students were highly satisfied with their living arrangements. Both Gordan and D’Arcy became good friends with their roommates, and Panalez said he hangs out with his roommates often. 

“I heard some people haven’t had much luck with the dorms, but I got lucky. My roommates are awesome, the room is clean and everything, so for me it’s good,” Panalez said. “My roommates are close. We are all pretty busy, everyone has different majors so we are all kind of spread out during the day, but when we get a chance we do hang out quite a bit.”

Despite issues with work orders and fatigue of the Roadrunner Cafe’s menu, students interviewed seemed to have relatively satisfied opinions of Chaparral Village.