Construction continues on a future residence hall at the corner of Washington Street and West Campus Drive.
Residential life is also restricting the number of on-campus housing options for transfer students.
Residential life "will house about 40 (students) who were accepted prior to our knowing of the overage in freshmen, rather than the usual 300 (students)," Spencer said.
To secure housing for all freshman students, the university is also planning to use more "temporary housing" than usual.
Temporary housing options includes RAs having roommates, housing three students instead of two in the larger rooms and converting study lounges into living areas.
"Our normal target is to open with 100 to 150 students in temporary housing who are then assigned to vacancies that occur during the first month or two of the semester; this year we expect to open with 300-plus students in these temporary arrangements," Spencer said.
An excess of students and a limited amount of housing is not a difficulty that only Virginia Tech faces, it's something that many other universities deal with as well. The University of Maryland at College Park is also a state school enrolling close to 24,000 undergraduates.
According to the Department of Residential Life at the University of Maryland's Web site, "First-time freshman students who submit their enrollment confirmations and/or housing and meal requests for fall after May 1, regardless of their admission status, are not guaranteed residence hall housing by the start of classes."
According to UM's Residential Life Web site, "this year, more students will apply to live in University of Maryland residence halls than can be accommodated. This same thing has happened every year since 1994. Every spring semester since 1994, some new applicants have been wait-listed."
Residential Life officials at University of Maryland have warned rising juniors and seniors that not all such residents can be accommodated for their third and fourth years.
Other local colleges in the state, such as James Madison University, are encouraging students to live on campus for just their first two years. According to its residential life Web site, as a tip for transfer students, JMU warns that, "on-campus housing is limited ... you may need to be thinking about living off campus".
The University of Virginia guarantees housing for the first two years, but ensures the student must be willing to live not only in the traditional suites, but in any of the housing options available, including the residential and language housing programs.
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Housing is really messed up. I received a HAP number in the top 10, and did not get ANY of my 3 choices. How does this happen? The CT needs to investigate how housing actually places students in halls (by pure chance) or if this "magical" program places students based on their HAP. They should also answer how do freshmen end up being placed in Harper & New Res East when those are the #1 requested halls by upperclassmen returning to live on campus. It appears the students have no say. Housing - WAKE UP!
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I've been in Harper and New Res since I was a freshman because I have asthma and require air conditioning. Most freshman I knew that were placed in those residence halls had similar situations.
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I lived on campus at NC State for a year, and at VT for 2. I think the Freshman should be required to live in the older dorms that don't have A/C or Suites, while the upperclassman wanting to return to campus should get first dibs on the nicer dorms, if that's what they choose. Of course, since Freshman are required to live on campus, some of them might get luck and get a nicer dorm in that kind of setup...but it would ast least give a better preference to returning students. All of that is why I decided not to live on campus for my last 2 years and got an apartment nearby...at least the say in where I lived was my own choosing.
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