New Housing Option For UTEP Students

UTEP students will soon have another housing option on campus for the start of this fall semester.

An older apartment complex purchased by the University is getting a major facelift.

“Miner Heights” is located off Schuster and Randolph Drive. The 80 unit remodel will house 208 students by this fall.

The finishing touches are getting put on “miner heights’ a new soon to be gated community near the utep campus.

“You can’t beat waking up and going to class. “

Rosa Sandoval is a senior, who’s been living on campus at Miner Village for three years and says she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I didn’t live here one semester and getting here in the mornings was a nightmare,” said Sandoval.

Miner Heights is a six million dollar project and will offer as much square footage as a two bedroom currently at Miner Village.

But the new property only has double occupancy, which means two students will have to share a bedroom.

“It’s very expensive to build residence halls from scratch and so this provided a stop gap. We need quite a bit more housing,” said Dr. Ricahrd Padilla, Vice President of Student Affairs.

UTEP officials say while typically a commuter school, “When we’ve done studies, we’ve found that many students would really love to live on campus,” said Padilla.

Miner Village currently houses 436 students.

Miner Heights will house an additional 208 students, some say the convenience just makes sense.

“You could just come back to your room sleep and be ready for class instead of spending about an hour or two commuting to campus,” said A.J Duron, a student who lives on campus.

The fully furnished apartments have new kitchen cabinets, appliances and refrigerated air.

The rent of 450 to 475 dollars a month also includes high-speed internet, basic cable, utilities and of course…that full college experience.

UTEP officials say a “Miner Heights” community center near the complex is also in the works.

For more information just go to kvia.com for a link to UTEP housing.