Austin Residence Complex - Kennesaw, Georgia

pink italy

do NOT live here. RAs and housing do not care to solve any issues you have. walls are paper thin and quiet hours are not enforced. trash is left randomly in front of doors and in the parking lot. roaches are rampant especially on the first floor. there’s a horrible weed problem and even if you call campus police, they won’t do anything. maintenance beats on the door at 9am,, save your money and live off campus.

Lauren Holiday

A year ago I think I made a review about the austin complex. But today, after finally moving out. I'm going to make a new review.

I first went to the AC in my junior year, not knowing the importance of what building I should have chosen. There are phase 1 buildings and phase 2. Meaning phase 1 has 20 year old buildings vs the 10 yr old buildings.

I have stayed at buildings 900, 1100, 600, and 400. All because of ?flooding? and ?threats?. If you want to dorm here, make sure you have 3 nice friends to dorm with. Or else you'll be with nasty and careless people that KSU has no jurisdiction over. The residential advisors have ZERO power and will NOT take your side if your roommate regularly leaves trash, or does not respect quiet hours. They also have no control over the weed problem on campus, and reporting your roommate for this can cause them to threaten you. Luckily theres a room change fee, they'll tell you its impossible to change rooms, but it's not if there's violence such as banging on your door and shouting things at you for calling out their behavior when KSU wont.

Now, if roommates arent your problem. Building 600 has rats in the air vents. Building 1100 is INFESTED with roaches. It is the closest building to the dumpsters. Ive seen them come out of the vents, bathtub, kitchen, you name it. If you choose a building directly beside the parking lot, I recommand buying foam ear plugs because roudy college kids think theyre swag with their car windows rolled down playing music till the crack of dawn.
Building 400 seemed to be nice at first. (Also had roaches whenever it would rain) They had 2 bedrooms instead of 4 so it was much more peaceful.only in some parts of the building however. Until it flooded when no one was in the room above mine? They moved me to the bottom floor, and the people in that dorm had a mold problem. Maintenance had informed them they must keep the AC running all the time because otherwise it will cause mold growth in the couches and walls. Psa for everyone. Keeping the AC running all the time will cause ur AC unit to overheat. Sending condensation into your dorm. I cant imagine the havoc it would wreck onto your lungs and belongings. I was only there for a week luckily, because they finally finished repairing the 900 building from flooding. It took about 2 or 3 months.
The 900 building was my saving grace. I had no issues. I never saw a roach once in that building.

I did have roommates who had also endured flooding 2 times. They came from the 1300 building, which flooded during the december freeze. "They" because 2 people were living together in one unit. If you thought one person was loud enough. Imagine 2 ?.

If you loose power you WILL BE THE LAST ONE TO GET POWER BACK. The austin complex had no power for 6 hours during the december freeze meanwhile every other building had power back asap.

I cant speak for how the phase 2 buildings function. However i dont imagine its much better. I also know they had one robbery at gunpoint for a PS5. And they liked to shout a lot from their patios. OH. they do have these like, dj parties at night in the circle of the buildings. If youre noise sensitive then omg, i cant imagine how annoying that would be with all of the echoing.

Overall. If you have nice parents stay at home. The amount of problems are seriously not worth it. If you do stay here, just be prepared for the worst. These buildings are old, have been through thousands of students. Ksu will continue to build new things rather than invest repairing the dorms.

Also, ksu did nothing to refund me or excuse me for the amount of time i wasted moving from dorm to dorm. THey extended my move in time from 24 hours to a few days. Yeah. 24 hours. They give you A SINGLE DAY TO MOVE OUT DURING A SCHOOL DAY. Because you have to turn in your key at 10am. So thats not 48 hours you ABSOLUTE DONUT. KSU.

I hope writing this doesnt bite me from behind ☠️ but i wanted to share my story somewhere after all ive been through. Bye ksu...

Chelsea L

I only like living here because of my roommates and the location. There a lot of downsides living over here. No matter how clean your dorm is your going to see bugs. Especially at night time. Also there a loose gutter outside that keeps banging on the wall whenever the wind blows.

Update 10/15/23 - If you have the option to live at home. LIVE AT HOME. I been here for 2 years and I dont like live here anymore. The people here don't understand cleanliness and also people are always screaming at 12am-3am in the morning. Also the elevator been broken since move in. I highly recommend living somewhere else.

Jake Izzo

I would waste my money here. I’ve stayed here since my freshman year because I had no other choice, my first year I stayed in one of the nice Phase 2 buildings however all of them still haven’t been updated plus there’s always a issue with bugs no matter what you, your really on your own for that .

I moved into the 1100 building my sophomore year (which is the oldest building in ARC) you would think that they would include that in Phase 2 but they haven’t. All is us in the building have had a constant and massive issue with bugs and there is really anything they do about it.

When I first initially moved into my bedroom , nobody had cleaned it , there was dust everywhere, on the walls , dressers, night stands,beds and desks. Plus there was a piece of carpet on the floor that hadn’t even been sowed in yet. In addition when I reached out I was told to really in the simple terms (to bad so sad).

I have had a content noise issue with people above me, who blasts the music above my room. I’ve tried talking to them nicely a Multitude of times but they hadn’t worked, I’ve called the RA about 10 times , I don’t even know if they even went up there because it still continued to happen. I also reached out to police as a last resort , but I was told to the RA instead because it’s not really a emergent matter.

In all seriousness I wouldn’t waste the money here for the amount and fees that you have to pay. It’s not worth it, in addition if you forget your card or even if it’s not working , you still get charged $25 each time, which adds up quickly. CAUTION AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Virginia Wyckoff

ARC Phase Two is way nicer than Phase One!! It is a great place to stay for upperclassmen, it's very up to date, spacious floor plans, private bath and bedroom, washer/dryer in your unit, and utilities are included. I wish I didn't move off campus, it was a very convenient place to live for two years. Downsides are there's no sense of community at ARC, no pets, and the maintenance team is hard to get in touch with sometimes. I usually had to go into the actual office to get problems fixed and they weren't open everyday.

Prince

I was there for almost a full semester (moved out second week of December) and the entire time the unit had a roach and other insect problem. Maintenance came quickly but only to spritz some unidentifiable liquid in the air. Later there would be a strong gas like smell that would linger for days. The windows must not of been sealed correctly or something because Many residents have had mildew and mild form from all the condensation coming in the room. When I had an issue with the cancellation of my housing contract the housing office provided no assistance, only student workers to say “Please leave your contact because Mr/Ms is out off the office.” They didn’t even have the decency to send a “Sorry but...” email as long as they get their rent on time they don’t care. At $695+ you might as well seek of campus housing, at least you won’t be forced to buy a meal plan.

Sarah Sigg

I don't know what Phase II (1200-1400) is like but definitely for Phase I (100-1100) is pretty bad. Some of the staff in the front office at Town Hall is rude. Making a maintenance request is a joke, because they don't come for at least 5 days, even if it's an emergency. I have found ants, silverfish, cockroaches, spiders, weevils, and fruit flies in my unit often (about 2 bugs a week), and my roommates and I clean a lot. Maintenance and the extermination company seem to laugh whenever I ask for help because I can't do it all on my own. Someone in that department has even said to me and my roommates "Get over it, it's not a problem" about a complaint. When I moved in, my roommate found used, dirty girl's underwear in her bedroom, used tissues, napkins, old food scraps, and hair in the living room. Carpets, cabinets, tile, and paint were not cleaned before moving in. Water smells funny, and my laundry equipment breaks often, and they don't fix it right or they make it worse (I had a not working dryer, and they brought in a "new" one where the belt is damaged and is very loud when running). Rent is not worth $695 per person, per month (yes, for a 4x4 room, it's sad). My only positive comment about this hell-hole is that my roommate is cool and it is across the street from Wendy's. You're welcome.

Leah Wright

I lived in ARC for the length of my contract. On paper, I had 3 roommates. In reality, we were out numbered by bugs and roaches who believed they were the ones leasing. I woke up to them in my bathroom, on my bedroom walls, and yes actually in my bed. I kid you not, I grabbed my cup of juice once and there was a silver long bug with all the legs in my juice. Dead. If bugs don't scare you, this is your place. If you're like me and your heart stops when you wake up and there's a roach on your pillow, ARC isn't for you.
Phase 1 is quite old now and so is everything in it. Half of our appliances didn't work, were literally broken in pieces, or just managed to get their job done. You can call maintenance all you want, especially for bug problems, and sure they'll come quickly, but that doesn't guarantee anything.
If you like peace and quiet, go elsewhere. The walls are paper thin. I would sneeze in my room with the door closed and my roommates would scream bless you from wherever they were. I could hear any and everything they did in the common area. I also lived on the bottom floor and many times thought the people above me would come crashing through my ceiling. The doors, decorations, etc would literally rattle and shake every time someone above us took a step.
So why 3 stars then? The ONLY reasons are because my classes were extremely close to ARC so it was easy to wake up 45 min before class and be on time, parking was relatively convenient for the building I lived in and I didn't have to worry about traffic or people hitting my car in the decks, and of course because of the ease of access whenever you want to participate in things on campus. Honesty consider what I'm telling you before making a decision. I didn't hate ARC, but it wasn't the best thing ever. I'm not sure why people don't review it but this is 100% true. Good luck!