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This year, students living in HOVA pay $700 per month including utilities such as cable television, Internet access and housekeeping. Next year, the price for a single room will rise to $900 per month, an almost 30 percent increase.
The price change is mostly because this year's price was abnormally low, said Johnnie Osborne, associate vice president and chief financial officer of Student Academic Support Services. He said because the building was in its first year of occupancy by graduate students, administrators were unsure of how many students wanted to live in the dorm.
"We figured at least to introduce (HOVA) at low rates to see what the interest would be for graduate students ... This year we went forward with bringing it in line with other room rates that we have on campus and in the market," Osborne said.
Within two weeks of making the residence hall available for graduate students, all the rooms were filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Since the residence hall was successful, the University is raising prices to a level where it will no longer be operating at a loss, said Seth Weinshel, assignments director of GW Housing Programs.
He added that another reason prices were so low was that a lot of students were living alone in a double. Next year all rooms will be offered as singles.
Graduate students upset with the $900 price tag don't realize how expensive housing in the Foggy Bottom area is, Weinshel said.
"If they find that they can live somewhere else cheaper, they can go right ahead," he said. "If you look at what the market in Foggy Bottom is, we're still lower at $900."
Several HOVA residents said the price hike makes the building is less appealing to live in because there is one shared kitchen for the entire residence hall and the parking is expensive.
