Freshmen Brian Jones and Makedo Wisseh certainly did not feel optimistic for the sophomore housing lottery after drawing number 283. But they thought the worst thing that could happen would be selecting a room on the first or the sixth floor of Susan B. Anthony Residence Halls.
?We thought by at least when we left we?d have a room,? Jones said. ?Now we might not be roommates.?
About 150 incoming sophomores were not assigned rooms in the Class of 2004 lottery Tuesday. When they arrived, they filled out forms indicating their preference for residential area and if they would like to remain paired with their current roommate.
Director of Residential Life Logan Hazen said they are exploring different ways to be able to meet their guarantee to house every student who signed a housing contract on time.
?The combination of attrition and finding new space will cover that easily,? Hazen said.
Residential Life expects that approximately 50 rooms will open up over the summer when students studying abroad cancel their housing contracts. In addition, students transferring or leaving for other reasons should provide about 45 to 50 more spaces.
In addition, Residential Life plans to release a small number of upperclassmen from their housing contracts. Only upperclassmen are eligible for this option because of the sophomore residency requirement.
The office plans to make applications for contract release available within the next few days. They will continue to accept them until May 18. Like the room change forms, they will be randomized within class year and implemented in that order over the summer.
UR is also exploring incentive programs to entice graduate students living in university housing to move. Hazen said that there was a high demand for graduate housing.
?We have added pressure to find additional space in de Kiewet and Valentine,? Hazen said.
Residential Life will release students from contracts deliberately to ensure that no more rooms than necessary are opened up.
?We?re not going to do this willy-nilly,? said Laurel Contomanolis, associate director of Residential Life.
?To be fiscally responsible for students who are going to pay for those vacancies, there has to be a balance,? Hazen said.
Those sophomores who did not receive housing will be placed according to their numbers from the room lottery. Unassigned sophomores will be placed after the room changes are processed for students with more seniority.
Hazen said that they expect to be able to move the approximately 50 juniors currently assigned to doubles into singles.
Residential Life will not be considering factors such as financial hardship when deciding who should be released.
?To be fair to all we have to do an impartial process,? Hazen said.
He also said that every year they have students, including sophomores who are not assigned at the lottery.
Every year, a number of students are also released from their contracts. Although more seniors and juniors stayed on campus this year, senior class numbers were not much higher because the class was relatively small. However, seventy more juniors chose on-campus housing than predicted.
?We didn?t expect this many juniors would stay,? Hazen said. ?It?s good students want to stay, but after a point, it becomes a problem.?
Hazen pointed to services such as Resnet and ResTV that make on-campus life more attractive.
?The pressure on us doesn?t end at 50 [unassigned students],? Hazen said. Students who had financial holds, late applicants and re-admits all add to the list of those looking for housing. Residential Life is not required to house them, however.
