Living on your own in a new apartment with friends can be a fun and exciting new chapter for students attending college. But with long commutes to campus and criminal activity surrounding you, many students were concerned about the safety of The Vie student apartments.
Over the past few years, upperclassmen at William Peace University were given the option to live at The Vie apartment complex close to Cary (approximately a 20 minute drive to campus), instead of living in on-campus housing. Not only was the long commute becoming an issue with students, but so were the multiple shootings that took place at the apartment complex. Luckily, no WPU students were ever involved. The issues led to the decision by WPU’s residence life to switch the lease with The Vie to Village Green for the 2019-2020 school year.
“Although I didn’t mind living at The Vie, I didn’t feel 100 percent safe there,” said WPU junior Skylar Conklin. “I didn’t think I was ever a target, but I would try not to walk to my car alone when it was dark outside.”
Senior at WPU, Noah Carter, is happy that WPU made the switch and feels a lot more at home at Village Green.
“I think Village Green is a much more comfortable environment to live in than The Vie,” said Carter. “It seems more like a home.”
Village Green is a smaller apartment complex located off Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh and is only a 10 minute drive to campus, a much more convenient location when it comes to commuting back and forth to school.
“Village Green is all around more advantageous for WPU students than the Vie. It’s way closer, it’s in a better area, and it’s mostly other students who live in the complex with us,” said Carter.
Carter is not the only one who sees the many advantages of living at Village Green. Senior Marie Ann Del Valle Coppin is also grateful to be living in a new space this year.
“I didn’t like The Vie at all, it was very sketchy,” said Del Valle Coppin. “The apartments were echoey and big and had a lot of space that needed to be filled, I feel more safe here than I did at The Vie.”
Village Green offers three bedroom apartments instead of four like The Vie. Also, the apartments have carpet in the living room and bedrooms which is a plus for some students.
“I definitely like the carpet more than the hardwood floors, it feels more like a home,” said Del Valle Coppin. “Plus, the living room has a TV in it which is cool.”
With the apartment being closer to campus, the shuttle services adjusted the schedule. The shuttle now picks students up and drops them off every thirty minutes at Village Green and at WPU.