With the deadline for submitting housing deposits approaching on Feb. 28, students have been wondering if they will get housing or not next year.
Tara Hart, the director of Housing and Residence Life, discussed the number of deposits submitted by students. She said that this number changes hourly as students make their housing deposits throughout the month. “As we did last year, students are made aware that after we receive 1,200 deposits, the deposit is considered a deposit to the wait list,” Hart said via email.
There is enough housing and beds for 1,200 returning students and 1,250 freshmen and transfer students in University owned and operated housing, Hart said.
Last year, Housing and Residence Life received 1,293 deposits, Hart said. The year before that they received 1,505 deposits. Hart said Housing and Residence Life expects about the same number of students to apply for housing this year as did last year.
In the fall 2015 semester, The Setonian reported on the overflow of students who were seeking housing. Around 90 students lived in the Talbott Apartments on the Rutgers-Newark campus, but Hart said that the University is not planning on using Talbott for housing.
When asked if Housing and Residence Life has a plan on what to do if there is not enough housing for students, Hart said, “We will manage our waitlist in lottery number order, offering space to a student when one becomes available through a cancellation.”
She added, “Our approach last year, again this year and moving forward, is to be being explicit that after 1,200 deposits are received a student is on the waitlist. Since we generally have approximately 100 cancellations after deposits, this approach has helped to better manage expectations.”
Some students have already submitted their deposits to secure housing.
Alyssa Criscuolo, a freshman biology and physician assistant major, has submitted her deposit for next year. She said she’s not worried.
“I think I’ll end up in a dorm, but it might be a dorm I might not like,” Criscuolo said.
Criscuolo said she would not want to live in Cabrini Hall because of the ongoing construction and “it’s outdated and it’s far from everything” on campus. Plus, she said she has heard that Cabrini has dorms the equivalent of Boland Hall and so they are not as nice as other dorms. She currently lives in Boland, which she feels is outdated, plus “the communal bathrooms are gross,” she said.
Her ideal housing situation would be to live in Xavier “because the location is convenient and the dorms are nicer.”
However, if she doesn’t get housing she does have an alternate plan. “I’ll probably just commute because my mom doesn’t want me living off campus because of the area,” she said. She added that it would not be ideal if she ends up with no housing. She is not sure how her priority points will help her since she said some of the points depend on student involvement and she is not sure what qualifies as that.
Michelle Miani, a freshman secondary special education and English major, said she is not worried about getting housing. However, if she does not get housing then she has no backup plan.
“I get decent grades and I’m involved so it seems like I should (get housing),” Miani said.
“I live too far away to commute,” Miani added, saying if she does not get housing then she will face a problem because she “wouldn’t know what to do.”
Billy Toney, a junior communications major, currently lives in Xavier Hall. He said he is not necessarily worried about getting housing and he is going to make his deposit soon. “I feel like housing is always available, it’s just where (you get housing),” Toney said.
He was offered a spot at Turrell Manor. He said that upperclassmen should have priority in getting housing at Xavier because it is a wet dorm, which means alcohol is allowed. Since students under 21 cannot legally drink, he said that those younger than the legal age should not be given priority housing there.
“I wish there was a priority points system so you know how many priority points you have,” Toney said. He said he feels that students are told to go to different events to receive priority points, but then students are not informed how many points they have.
“The school should be ready (with enough housing) if they have so many students that go here,” Toney said. If he does not get housing, Toney said, “I’d have to go find somewhere to live or an apartment off campus.”
Samantha Todd can be reached at samantha.todd@student.shu.edu.
