Hanwoori Hall, the school dormitory, is a tempting alternative when you consider that its bedrooms are fully equipped with desks, closets, telephones and other necessities. Students at Hanwoori can eat three meals a day in the dorm cafeteria and have access to a convenience store, study rooms, a fitness room, a health center, a cozy Internet cafe, and can get to their classes in around five minutes. Unfortunately however, among the 15,000 students at Ewha only 617 are able to take advantage of these comforts.
Hanwoori Hall was constructed in 1999 on the grounds where the Old Residence Facility (Jinkwan) used to be situated, in order to expand the latter dormitory"s capacity. Still, the number of students who live on-campus is far below those of the neighboring schools. Yonsei University dormitory consists of four five-story buildings that take in 996 students (1,970, if you consider exchange students, faculty, and students preparing for National tests). Seoul National University"s dormitory has 22 buildings that can accommodate over 2,000 students. Compared to these figures, Ewha"s dormitory"s 617 students come in a distant last.
Such a limited dormitory capacity has drawn complaints from both students who wish to live on-campus and those who want to maintain their campus residence. Because only so many students can come in, the school only accepts applications from freshmen whose residence is out of Seoul and those accepted can only stay for a year. Students are admitted through a random, computer-generated lottery. "I heard it was really tough getting admitted to the Hanwoori Hall because so many sutdents from out of Seoul apply and the school has no room for them," says Kim Ji-hye (Business Administration, 1). Students who move to a different city after entering college and non-freshmen in their sophomore, junior, and senior years, are left without the chance to live in the dorms.
Because those living on-campus at Hanwoori Hall must move out when their freshman year ends, students who come in the dormitory in the second semester are allowed to stay for only one semester. Then, they must find another place to spend the rest of their college life. "I wish the school could lengthen the term for those who wish to stay longer," says Lim Soo-young (English Language & Literature, 3). On the other hand, the dormitory living term for students at Sookmyung Women"s University is two years.
Although the school is planning to expand and renovate the Jinkwan building, which has the capacity to accomodate 40 people in its dormitory at present, there are no plans to enlarge the facilities of Hanwoori Hall in the next three years.
espirit0121@ewha.ac.kr