The school year will begin with fewer than 100 students on the on-campus housing waitlist, a substantial decrease from last year’s opening-day tally of 1,565, officials from the Department of Resident Life said.
The short list comes after the department told most rising juniors and all rising seniors that their chances of being allowed to remain in on-campus housing were slim, and they ought to consider other options. As those students fled, freshmen interest in on-campus housing waned, creating more space than was anticipated.
Resident Life also converted 161 of 193 forced triples back into doubles, eliminated all of the converted quad-lounges in the North Campus dorms and allowed about 350 transfer students into dorms to fill the unexpected empty spaces, said Deb Grandner, director of Resident Life.
Last year, only a handful of transfers were offered housing, she said. Resident Life also allowed 166 seniors into dorms, Assistant Director Scott Young said.
None of the students on the waitlist are returning juniors or seniors, Grandner added.
The rest of the students on the waitlist will probably be offered spots during the fall semester, Grandner said. There will be 8,260 students living in dorms, 15 people above Resident Life’s target occupancy of 8,245, Grandner said. The discrepancy is due to returning residents choosing to live in forced triples.
About 1,410 people were on the housing waitlist at the beginning of May, about the same total as the year before. Grandner attributed the smaller opening-day list to Resident Life making more frequent contact with students on the waitlist; the smaller number of freshmen requesting on-campus housing; and the fact that many juniors and seniors on the list made other housing arrangements.
“Because they knew that we might not be able to house them, they worked actively to find off-campus housing,” Grandner said. About 40 percent of upperclassmen offered on-campus housing declined to take it.
But there has not been a spike in off-campus house rentals.
“The demand does not seem to be as strong as it was four or five years ago,” said College Park Landlords’ Forum Chair Dave Dorsch, who is in contact mainly with landlords of houses and small apartments. Many of the students may have decided to live in larger apartments such as University View, he said, noting that rental activity may pick up within the first few weeks of school.
This year, Resident Life officials contacted students on the waitlist eight times during the summer, compared to four times last year. About 325 fewer freshmen than last year will live on the campus this fall.
However, the list – which Grandner called the “smallest in a number of years” – may not predict the end of the housing crunch. In the coming years, the size of the waitlist will depend on the size of the freshman class and the economy, Grandner said. A sagging economy may affect students’ decisions to live on the campus, or their ability to attend the university at all.
Referring to the list as “an anomaly,” Grandner said she expects next year’s list will be longer. “The interest to live in [on campus] housing still remains strong,” she said. “If you get involved and become active in University of Maryland life, I think it helps you to succeed.”
More work needs to be done to ensure students can find on-campus spots in the future, Grandner said.
“I’d like to see us have more on-campus housing,” she said. “That would certainly help to keep [the waitlist] low.”
Construction began on a new 368-resident South Campus Commons building in lot U7 near Susquehanna Hall and Commons 6 in July, and the building is scheduled to open in 2010.
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