Sophomores who were forced into triples last year and are considering using their housing lottery advantage must decide by tomorrow whether to request a boosted number for next year or to wait to use it for their senior year.
Last year, 120 members* of the Class of 2011 were placed in forced triples as a result of the university's housing shortage, according to Office of Residential Life and Learning Director Yolanda King. As compensation, ResLife awarded them with advantages for the annual housing lottery,by which students claim on-campus housing. Students can use the advantage for one year. Sixty-six students* elected to use their advantage for their sophomore year, King said.
The students who request lottery boosts this month will have until Oct. 31 to make a binding decision on whether they actually want to use the advantage now, or if they want to defer until next year.
A number of students are frustrated that they must make a critical housing decision just under five months before the housing lottery and more than 10 months before they will be moving in for next school year.
"It's definitely too early," said sophomore Jeff Gaudet, who has not yet used his boosted number. He added that the October deadline is part of the reason he will surely not use his advantage next year.
"I feel like it's early because students haven't planned out the next two years completely," he added.
Gaudet said many rising juniors have yet to make study abroad decisions that will affect their housing situations. He added that most deadlines for programs abroad are not until the beginning of second semester.
King said ResLife actually set the early deadline in part as a favor to students. "We're just doing it earlier to get students thinking about the process for themselves," she said.
When asked what motivated ResLife to put the deadline in October, King said, "We just picked the deadline to give students ample time for planning so they can make a decision." She added that if students need more time to make their decision, they can receive an extension. October 30 is the latest possible date students can indicate their desire to use the lottery advantage next year, according to an e-mail to the students from ResLife.
Last year, ResLife waited until January to ask freshmen living in forced triples if they wanted to use their lottery advantages.
Sophomores who decide this week to use their advantage for junior year will receive their new lottery number during the week of Oct. 20, King said.
Gaudet, who intends to live in Sophia Gordon Hall his senior year, plans to study abroad in Spain for the fall semester of his junior year.
Gaudet has "no idea" where he will end up living next year, but is hoping for an off-campus apartment. His junior-year lottery number will probably not secure him on-campus housing without the advantage, he said.
Sophomore Michael Cavicchi has a less clear picture of his plans for the next two years. "I have not decided yet [whether to request a lottery boost] because I don't know if I want to live off-campus next year," Cavicchi told the Daily, adding that he has not yet determined his study abroad plans.
"I don't like how early it is. I guess I understand that they need it to be early. I think students are kind of in a rush to figure out what they're going to do with housing," Cavicchi said.
Other students are less concerned about the deadline.
Sophomore Swati Shah thinks the deadline is "a little early" and may make it difficult for students deciding between studying abroad or not studying abroad. But for Shah, who has already worked out abroad plans, the deadline is not as bothersome.
Shah intends to use her advantage for her senior year. Like Gaudet, she hopes to live in Sophia Gordon Hall. She will study abroad next year, and plans to live in off-campus housing if she is not abroad for the whole year.
If a student is unable to secure off-campus lodging for extenuating circumstances, "we would have to sit down and talk to the student" on a case-by-case basis, King said. But she added that students should have "plenty of time for their planning."
*Editor's Note: The statistics that ResLife provided to the Daily this year conflict with related numbers that the office provided last year. In February of last year, ResLife indicated that 148 freshmen had received lottery boosts, not 120. ResLife also indicated at that time that 63 had elected to use their advantages for sophomore year, not 66.
