Empty beds at the beginning of this school year have prompted housing officials to move the housing selection process to October for rising juniors and seniors.

In sharp contrast to the unprecedented demand for on-campus housing in 2003 that accompanied the opening of three residence halls in the Southwest Quad, housing demand dropped sharply this year, leaving 200 empty beds – or 4 percent of on-campus housing openings – scattered throughout double-occupancy rooms.

“In most years we have not been able to offer space to people at the beginning of the year,” Karen Frank, vice president for university facilities and student housing, said. “When the Southwest Quad opened, the whole picture changed. We’re still trying to anticipate for the future what the real demand is.”

In order to give freshmen more time to acclimate socially and assemble groups of two or four, rising sophomores will not select housing until spring, when the university has typically conducted the housing selection process for all classes.

While a specific point system to determine housing eligibility has not yet been determined, Frank said that the university hopes that moving the selection to October can better gauge student demand for housing and can also remove the uncertainty commonly associated with finding on- and off-campus housing.

“One of the things that we’re trying to do is reduce the anxiety over this housing process,” Frank said. “We want to give students more information – more certainty – earlier.”

The housing department conducted summer focus groups and an online survey in May for juniors and seniors living off campus to determine why and when they had chosen to move off campus.

Student input led housing officials to conclude that students decided to move off campus because they were unsure about their prospects for securing on-campus housing comparable to off-campus housing.

By contrast, in Nov. 2002 the housing department assured students that “there [would] be ample housing to accommodate all who want to live on campus,” prompting a housing crunch the following spring when demand for housing exceeded available beds.

The crunch left nearly 200 rising juniors without housing in mid-March and prompted the university to add 123 beds to larger double-occupancy rooms in the Southwest Quad. These rooms are not triples this year.

To better calculate housing demand, the department implemented a housing eligibility drawing last fall to tell students whether they would be eligible to live on campus. Students who were eligible applied for their specific housing assignment the following spring.

This year, the housing selection process will follow the housing eligibility drawing in October.

Some students said they were pleased by what they saw as student-friendly changes.

“To me [the October selection period] seems like it makes sense because it gives upperclassmen a likelihood to get housing while allowing freshmen to still get housing in the spring,” David Silbergeld (COL ’07) said.

But others said that the move would be unfair to students looking to study abroad. “[October is] too early because upperclassmen are not going to know where they’re going to be next year. They might be staying on campus or going abroad,” Kate Vershov (MSB ’07) said.

The housing department will continue to conduct housing selection online after receiving a positive response from last year’s inaugural online selection, Frank said.

The university took a number of steps in April and May to encourage students to live on campus. Village C East, traditionally a freshman residence hall, now houses sophomores, juniors and seniors with some double-occupancy rooms converted to singles. Darnall Hall, traditionally a sophomore residence hall, now houses freshmen.

Additionally, in an effort to avail more apartments on campus for upperclassmen, rising sophomores who chose apartments in the housing lottery were e-mailed by the housing office and told that if they moved into the residence halls, they would be given housing preference for the next two years and free season tickets for the 2004-05 men’s basketball season.