He’s movin’ on up, to the Lower East Side, to a deluxe dormitory in the sky.
Finally, Steven Stanzak has got a piece of the pie – and it has to taste much better than the stale McDonald’s bagels he’s used to.
The 20-year-old NYU bookworm, who spent the last eight months sleeping in the bowels of his school’s library because he couldn’t afford student housing, managed to wriggle his way out of Bobst and squirm into NYU’s posh Lafayette Residence Hall.
“I didn’t know who the new guy was going to be,” Stanzak’s new dorm mate, 19-year-old John Carrion, said. “I was surprised to find out it was Bobst Boy.”
Stanzak moved in with Carrion, a sophomore majoring in metropolitan studies, and a third NYU student who goes by the name Andre, after an NYU administrator stumbled upon Stanzak’s Web log detailing his squatting.
Instead of punishing Stanzak, the school relocated him to his own personal double – “Room C” – which is part of a five-person suite with a view of the West Village and the Hudson River.
The room would normally go for $5,490 a semester, but Stanzak will stay rent-free – at least until the school year ends.
“We haven’t had too much time to hang out,” Carrion said. “He leaves early and comes home late. He’ll say, ‘I’m off to ‘Good Morning America,’ and I’ll say, ‘See you later.’ “
Stanzak will no longer have to bathe in a restroom sink as he did during his library stint – his suite has a marbled and nearly spotless bathroom.
Stanzak has also traded in the sleep mask to block out library lights and the four chairs he slept on for a bed with a mattress, sheets and a pillow.
And he has a five-drawer dresser and a closet instead of a library locker to store his belongings.
“His closet is twice the size of mine!” Carrion said.
What’s not clear is what Stanzak will actually store in the space – he was spotted carrying only a laptop and bedding when he moved in.