With the beginning of fall semester less than a month away, students will begin renewing leases or settling into new residences over the next few weeks leading up to University Housing’s move-in weekend which begins Aug. 14.
But for 237 students, living arrangements are still up in the air as they remain on Housing’s waiting list for residence halls.
Housing Student Services Manager Rena Gobble said the waiting list is unusually long this year, but said Housing was working to get those still on the list in, even as the first day of classes draws nearer.
“Normally we may have 100 students and typically we get them all in,” Gobble said. “Our numbers are really high this year. We’re trying to get them in as quick as we can.”
Gobble said those who submitted their applications before May 21 have all received room assignments, but those who submitted later may have to be more patient and keep other options open. Gobble said Housing has had more than 50 applications since July 10 when the Housing Web site was updated to reflect that Housing could not guarantee late submissions would have housing. Gobble said the wait list is smaller now than it was a month ago, however, as about 100 prospective residents have been granted spots in residence halls.
Director of University Housing Susan Grant said the odds of students finding housing on-campus depended on their spot on the list as well as other factors.
“We’re going to look at people who seem to be a little further away than others. We may ask students who live in the greater Raleigh area to be patient and wait until the housing verification process, then ask, if [we] have a space for them, if they still want it” Grant said. “We do assign people based on the answers to their [compatibility] questions. We’re not just putting people in to put them in–we’re trying to minimize the problems that can arise when living away from home the first time.”
And it’s those first-year students who may be shafted as the residence halls reach capacity since the number of students returning to residence halls this year was about 300 more than last year’s total.
“We’re about full right now,” Grant said, and while a certain number of spots are reserved for incoming freshman, the higher number of returners, more first-year applicants, or a combination of the two will have some new students unsure about living arrangements up until classes begin.
“We have made it fairly well through the waiting list,” Grant said. “We’re going through all the applications as we get cancellations.”
Gobble and Grant said those on the waiting list should explore other Housing options, from E.S. King Village and Western Manor Apartments to off-campus housing. The Housing office has information about apartment complexes and frequently receives tips about town homes and other amenities for rent.
As far as the future of Housing is concerned, Grant said there are plans in the works to bring more residence halls to campus, specifically on Centennial Campus, but that there wasn’t a pressing need for more space.
“We do a pretty good job at the numbers we have now,” Grant said. “We are looking at the feasibility of having housing on Centennial Campus, but it’s just in the analysis phase. Building new takes time–it usually takes at least three years to get something on the ground for students to use. It’s a balancing game and we need to look at what the demand is, so it’s hard to say whether there will definitely be more housing in the future.”
