Plants are quite beneficial in terms of improving the quality of life for those that are surrounded by them.
According to The Sill, indoor plants boost mood, productivity, concentration and creativity, reduce stress, fatigue, sore throats and colds, clean indoor air by absorbing toxins, increasing humidity and producing oxygen, add to sterile offices, gives privacy, reduce noise levels and are therapeutic and cheaper than a therapist.
For all these reasons, having a plant in a dorm room would greatly benefit students. Having increased concentration, productivity and creativity can result in better grades. Increased mood, reduced stress, fatigue, sore throats and colds can further increase productivity and happiness while living on campus, resulting in better overall opinions of BGSU.
For all these reasons, BGSU should provide all incoming freshmen living in dorms with a plant.
In terms of cost, to do this would cost less than $17,000 a year.
If you can get a pack of 16 succulents from Lowe’s for $55.81, the unit price of each succulent in this pack is approximately $3.49.
Considering the best size pot for these succulents is 2.5” x 2.25”, and you buy a pack of ten clay pots from Walmart for $7.99, the unit price is approximately $0.80 per pot.
Each pot’s volume is 5.625 cubic inches. An eight quart potting soil mix from Lowe’s is $4.98. Eight quarts is equal to 462 cubic inches, which divided by 5.625 cubic inches per pot, means that 82 pots can be entirely filled with one bag of potting soil mix. Relating it back to unit price, the cost of soil per pot would be approximately 6 cents.
Therefore, $3.49 per plant plus $0.80 per pot plus 6 cents for the soil to fill the pot equals $4.35 per repotted plant.
Take $4.35 per plant per student and multiply that by the number of incoming freshmen, which this year was 3,900, and it totals up to $16,965.
If BGSU does not have the leftover funds to make this possible there are other options. They do not even have to find the funds from one place and relocate them to pay for this initiative. Rather, if every student enrolled at BGSU pays one extra dollar in their student fees, this initiative can be made possible.
This plan is assuming that the deals on the plants, pots and soil I found above remain, each pot is being completely filled with new soil –— which would not be the case as the succulents would already come with soil that would get mixed in with the new soil –— this year’s freshmen class is the biggest class the university will ever have and every incoming freshman moves into the dorms and accepts the plant they are given upon moving in.
If the university can contribute $25,000 to building the BGSU letters in the oval to attract more students to come to the university, the university can also spend $17,000 or add an added fee to student fees to provide incoming freshmen with a plant that can add to happiness, good health and more success while at BGSU.
