Even with guaranteed on-campus beds, only a fraction of upperclassmen applied to live in dorms next semester, according to Department of Resident Life officials, who said juniors and seniors view on-campus housing as a fallback to more preferable off-campus arrangements.
With the opening of Oakland Hall and the rearranging of rooms throughout the campus, the university has made on-campus spaces for 8,895 students — about 5,000 of whom will be returning students. And for the first time since the “housing crisis” of 2007, when all seniors and many juniors were kicked out of university housing and told to fend for themselves, more than 1,000 upperclassmen will be given on-campus beds in the fall.
“I’m hoping this is how it will be for the future,” Director of Resident Life Deb Grandner said. “My desire is to house all students that want to live on-campus, which is one of the reasons it was so important to us to build Oakland. We are really hoping this will last.”
Only about 19 percent of rising juniors applied to live on the campus, but of those students, the vast majority — about 91 percent — will be doing so in the fall.
“Most of the juniors that requested to live on-campus set apartments or suites as their top preferences, and most received them,” said Scott Young, Resident Life’s assistant director for Administrative Business Services. “The juniors will be spread out between Oakland, Leonardtown, Washington, Montgomery, Talbot and Prince George’s halls, among others.”
Oakland Hall — which is still under construction, but is set to open in time for fall move-in — is filled to capacity, but not with as many juniors as officials had anticipated. Resident Life officials said they were surprised at how few juniors asked to live in the new building.
Although juniors who put Oakland Hall as their first choice were given top priority in room assignments, about 75 percent of the rooms in the new building will be full of sophomores, officials said.
Young noted that though the university’s ability to provide on-campus housing for upperclassmen has increased, it does not seem to have had a major impact on upperclassmen’s decisions to move beyond the campus’ borders. He added that many juniors and seniors told him they see on-campus housing as a backup plan to off-campus options such as apartments, houses or fraternity and sorority residences.
The Department of Resident Life was not able to determine how many students were turned away from Oakland Hall, but Young estimated hundreds were denied residence in the new building.
Young said he is interested to see how the room exchange that begins today will go.
“It’s for students who aren’t happy with room selection,” he said. “Students can officially start moving to vacancies and swapping with other people who are also unhappy with the outcome. It’s the first time we have done this after room selection — it’s now an opportunity for students to do it in a real-time environment.”
But some students said the department still has more work to do to accommodate students.
“Resident Life is really doing a great job at trying to fit everyone in housing,” freshman business major Michael Selarnick said. “The system is working for now, but they are still going to need to find a way to accommodate more people in the future.”
romas at umdbk dot com
