Up a staircase between Aubie and Eagle halls in the Village live Nick and Julia Wiard and their two daughters, Hayden, 3, and Avery, 1.
While most college students would find this situation unique, Nick said it's not--many campuses have similar family housing options. Auburn has three or four other live-in families, and it's actually similar to a family living in a flat in a large city.
Their second daughter Avery was born at the East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, and the dorm suite is the only living situation she has ever known.
Nick works as the area director for the Village and part of the Quad.
He said his job allows him to be available and on campus full time in case of an emergency, which usually involves assisting in student personal crises.
"The reason they put us in is for a quick response," Nick said. "If they need a professional-level response right away--if an emergency happens in a building--I can be over there in about three minutes, as opposed to 15 or 20 minutes for somebody off campus."
The flat is larger than the standard dorm room, complete with a full-sized kitchen with oven and dishwasher, tons of counter space, a stacking washer and dryer, a bedroom for the girls (large enough for two cribs), a master bedroom and bathroom, a guest bathroom and an office.
"We joke about the fact that if we live in any longer, we'll just move them down the hall, and they'll start going to school here," Nick said. "The other thing that I thought about is a lot of schools have a freshman year live-on requirement, and so both of our girls already fulfilled that in the first couple years of life."
As with all housing situations, there are some advantages and disadvantages.
One advantage is free rent, just like with student resident assistants.
"It is an incentive to keep people in that would rather not," Nick said. "In certain places in the country it's so expensive to live that you have to provide for your folks because you wouldn't be able to get them in on the salary they would like to pay most professionals at that level."
Another is closeness to all the events on the University, like gymnastics meets and basketball games the Wiards only walk two minutes to attend.
"They get to go see Tiger Walk--some people drive three or four hours to get here to see them do that, and we walk out six minutes," Nick said.
But not having a carport or yard, the constant fire drills and worrying about the girls' volume levels, especially at night, can be a burden.
The Wiards said they plan to move into a house by the time Hayden enters kindergarten.
"They take care of us here," Nick said about the washer and dryer the University provided at Nick's request.
Nick said moving out will be difficult because of the advantages and cost effectiveness the dorm room provides.
"Hayden's just starting to be aware of the fact that she lives in Aubie Hall and will tell people that," Julia said. "For the longest time she would say, 'That is my house,' and I don't know if she understood that there were 700 other people living here or not."
Nick graduated from Central Arkansas, where he met Julia, and both worked at Western Kentucky University before moving to Auburn.
Julia, a Selma native, works with the Student for Leadership and Ethics program in the Auburn University Student Center, creating workshops and conferences aimed at building leadership throughout the year.
But regardless of whether they live on campus or make the tough financial transition to a house, Julia said they're in the Auburn area for good.
"It's kind of been fate that he got a job here," Julia said. "It's closer to home. Auburn's kind of where we wanted to be."
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