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U Experience: Olympia native plans 'bubble' housing for college students enrolled remotely


Adam Bragg, left, and Lane Russell, who is from Olympia, hatched the idea of putting college students in hotels, allowing them to attend college remotely but still live with other students. (Photo: Courtesy Lane Russell)
Adam Bragg, left, and Lane Russell, who is from Olympia, hatched the idea of putting college students in hotels, allowing them to attend college remotely but still live with other students. (Photo: Courtesy Lane Russell)
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An Ivy League grad from western Washington is garnering national attention for his efforts to allow college students to live with their peers even if their university is only offering remote learning because of COVID-19.

Lane Russell, an Olympia native who graduated from Princeton University after majoring in economics, and his business partner, Adam Bragg, have come up with U Experience, a concept that "unbundles" campus living from the typical university experience but still allows students to soak up dorm life.

Russell, 24, and Bragg are behind the fledgling idea of putting college students up in "bubble" hotels located in Arkansas and Hawaii and that have been repurposed as college dorms. The students will come from universities all over the country and attend classes remotely but will all live under the same roof.

In an interview with KOMO News Radio Friday, Russell said he and Bragg devised the idea after Harvard University announced that its academic year would occur only online. Instead of students being consigned to obtain their higher education while stuck in their childhood bedroom, the pair say they will put students on chartered commercial flights for a semester spent with their college peers in hotels-turned-dorms.

Russell said the room-and-board charges would cover meals, beverage service and come with exercise classes, dance instructions, art lessons, a pool and social events. He said the hotels in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Waikiki, Hawaii, will have student meeting areas as well as study rooms.

Business Insider reported that the Arkansas dorm will cost $12,000 while the Hawaii venue will top out at $15,000.

"We think the Hawaii location is one that students will get real excited about," Russell said, adding that the campus in Razorback country will allow students to "get away from the urban environment they're used to."

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life around the globe, but Bragg said students in the U Experience will be tested for the virus before they arrive on campus. Once there, collegians will immerse themselves in their hotels with minimal interaction with outsiders.

"We think this is an effective way to keep them and the communities we're involved in safe from COVID," Russell said. "It allows students to get the best of both worlds: they can be involved with other peers and doing fun things in addition to their coursework."

Russell said violation of "bubble polices" could result in Immediate expulsion for the offenders. Hundreds of hotels submitted bids for the opportunity to be a host site, Russell said

If a virus for the coronavirus is found and college students can once again attend classes while living on the same campus, Russell said he thinks the U Experience will continue to have guests wanting to get in.

"We do see this as a long-term business," he said. "This is something where we're imagining (that is) a complete unbundling of the college experience."


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