Record demand for on-campus housing creates need for upperclassman triples

04/25/08 - The University of Rhode Island has received a record 2,750 applications from upperclassmen seeking on-campus housing next semester.Director of Housing and Residential Life Chip Yensan said yesterday that the department expects to house at least 2,700 freshmen next year. The university's residence halls have a design capacity of 4,600 beds, leaving about 1,900 slots for the 2,750 upperclassmen. But that number can rise if upperclassmen agree to triples, as some have.

Others, unhappy with the choices available during their registration times, chose to leave. As of yesterday, HRL had issued 113 deposit refunds and is considering holding a second refund week if additional students are unsatisfied with their options.

Still, HRL is offering housing to all 2,637 remaining upperclassmen by making room in the currently all-freshman Heathman Hall and asking sophomores to triple up.

"We have made space available for every upperclassman that was seeking it," Yensan said.

The triples were part of "an attempt to offer more options," Yensan said, adding the option was developed in partnership with the Student Senate a few years ago.

And while some students have taken the offer, which comes with a reduced rate, others are upset about repeating their freshman year housing experience.

"If we have to move to Heathman and a smaller room with three people, that doesn't seem fair," said freshman Laura Federico, who lives in a double in Bressler Hall and had the last housing registration appointment.

She and roommate Rachel Lynch went to their appointment expecting to sign up for a room in an upperclassman building at the encouragement of their parents, who wanted them to stay on campus.

However, HRL told them that they could live in a Heathman triple or, alternatively, a North Village Condo if they put down a $700 deposit and part of the rent within one week. Lacking the money to do the latter, the pair decided to take their chances and add their names to a waiting list of people called if a room in an upperclassman building opens up.

Today they expect to be assigned a room in Heathman alongside freshmen.

"It's like we're going to be freshmen twice," Federico said.

Lynch said that during the summer, she'll wait in angst for a call from HRL telling her where and with whom she will live. She spent this school year anticipating leaving a freshman building and thought she made the right move by turning in her $200 deposit before Spring Break.

"They told us if we hand in our deposit before Spring Break we'd be guaranteed housing," Lynch said. "I guess I just expected when they said guaranteed housing I would get upperclassman housing."

Yensan said the housing crunch affecting Federico, Lynch and their peers is coming from two sides - larger freshman classes and more students wishing to live on campus, particularly after the opening of the new suites and apartments.

While the Wiley Hall suites and Garrahy and Wiley apartments added 800 beds to campus, and the Greek system provides close to 1,000 more, the university is still struggling to accommodate the additional freshmen who choose to stay rather than move off campus.

Plans are in the works to tear down the Terrace Apartments and replace them with a 350-bed residence hall. The school also made a change to housing rules in an attempt to stop "squatters" or students that continually signed up for their same rooms year after year.

For the first time this year, HRL eliminated that option, forcing all students in a lottery-type system that assigns students housing enrollment times based primarily on seniority.

Other students, such as athletes, those enrolled in Talent Development and those with disabilities, are not part of the system and receive priority housing.

Next year students will see another change with the addition of an online housing registration system that will allow students to sign up for housing from any Internet-capable computer in the world. The system means an end to the often hectic scene of students lining up, dozens deep and craning their necks to see what buildings are available.

It also promises to help students studying abroad sign up for housing.

Similar to course registration, the system will include staggered registration times for students. But Yensan said the department has not yet determined how it will award registration times and is waiting to hear back from Student Senate for ideas.

News Editor Andy Blais contributed to this report.