Rising seniors and juniors came one step closer to finding out where they will be living next year, as the housing department released eligibility results online last Wednesday.

Of the 2,354 rising juniors and seniors that applied for eligibility for on-campus housing, 1,737 received it. The remaining students were placed on a waitlist by the housing department, according to Karen Frank, vice president for university facilities and student housing.

“We will determine how many people to take off the waitlist once we go through housing selection,” Frank said.

All students who considered living on campus next year were required to sign up for eligibility.

Rising seniors who are currently living off campus and all rising juniors went into eligibility with four points, while rising seniors who are currently living on campus were assigned three points.

As students signed up for eligibility in groups, a computer averaged the total number of points of each group and then randomly assigned a number to that group.

Approximately 2 percent of rising seniors who had three points received eligibility this year, according to Frank.

“It really depended on who each group was composed of,” she said. “A few rising seniors did theoretically receive a fourth year on campus, maybe because they went in with a number of students who had four points. On the other hand, some rising seniors didn’t even receive a third year of housing.”

All students with four points who signed up for eligibility received it.

For those who did not sign up for eligibility, they can sign up for the waitlist runs until Dec. 6.

“They will be able to choose from the residence halls and apartments leftover from the fall selection period in January when they return from winter break,” Jonalyn Ware Greene, interim executive director for student housing, said.

Back when Georgetown was able to guarantee three years of on-campus housing, the housing department had a preference period in which students signed up if interested in on-campus housing, but they were almost always guaranteed housing.

Frank explained that recent events have caused the housing department to institute an eligibility period instead of a preference period to give them a better indication of whether they would be able to live on campus the following year.

“A whole lot of events encouraged parents to want their sons and daughters to live on campus,” Frank said. “Three years ago, we had 9/11, the Anthrax scare and the sniper scare all in the same year. Then on-campus housing became popular, creating a real crunch for the past two years.”

Eligible students are in the middle of housing selection, divided into three different selection periods of singles, apartments (including townhouses and Copley Suites), and residence halls.

The selection period for singles has already closed, while selection begins on Nov. 8 for apartments, and Nov. 29 for residence halls.

Greene said that that the online system for housing selection has already been well-received.

“A new feature this year will allow students to create a watch-list of about five selections. This allows them to narrow down their top picks and watch them closely as it becomes time for them to select,” Greene said.

As for the students who did not receive eligibility, Frank said that the Office of Off-Campus Housing Services will be available to work with students as in the past.

“There are still plenty of vacancies out there, and landlords will try to put pressure on students,” Frank said.

Frank noted that the overall response to the earlier selection periods has been positive.

“We started this process really because upper-class students wanted to have an idea where they would be living earlier on in the year in the case that they would not receive eligibility,” she said.

This would also give those students living off campus the opportunity to start searching for apartments as early as September, according to Greene.