Students who plan to live on campus next year expressed a mix of emotions as lottery numbers for housing were posted online late Wednesday afternoon. While the lottery was no different from those of past years, student discontent on the housing crunch was evident - especially among sophomores, who are not guaranteed a room on campus for their junior year.
Lottery numbers are generated by a computer system that randomly assigns numbers to all undergraduates, regardless of their housing plans. This system is particularly stressful to sophomores, some of whom find that their numbers are too low and must then look to alternative options such as culture houses or - more frequently - off-campus housing.
"I didn't wait [for the lottery] because I didn't expect to get housing on campus, and I didn't want to not have a place to go. I was really lucky because I got a really horrible lottery number, and I don't know what I would be doing right now if I had waited," sophomore Sharon Milewits said.
Many of those studying abroad next year are relieved they do not have to deal with the hassle of finding housing in the area.
"My lottery number was 26th from the worst, so I'm definitely glad I won't be here to have to deal with that, otherwise I'd definitely be living in a tent on the quad," said sophomore Robina Bhasin, who plans to study abroad for the full year.
Juniors-to-be who have arranged to study abroad for only one semester, however, do not enjoy the same luxury, due to ResLife's elimination of fall-only housing for next year.
"When we heard that only 20 percent of juniors would be able to live on campus, we started to look for off-campus housing," sophomore Allison Luhrs said.
Though some juniors are concerned, not all students are unhappy. Among those pleased with their plight were the winners of the Leonard Carmichael Society's annual housing raffle. The contest awards one member of each class with the highest possible lottery number for his or her year. The raffle netted over $2000, all of which will be given to charity.
"We got the top ticket, and we're glad the homeless shelter got the $400 we pitched in for it," said freshman Bobby FitzPatrick, who plans to room with winner Alexander Bailey and their friends in a quad in West Hall next year.
Sophomore Diana Cohen was equally alleviated to have won the raffle. "If we hadn't won, we would have all been freaking out about finding off-campus housing, because we are all going away in the spring and didn't want to have to worry about subletting and all that," she said.
The Office of Residential Life is organizing a number of events to assist upperclassmen in finding housing off campus. An off-campus housing workshop sponsored by ResLife was organized last night in hopes of providing some direction for juniors- and seniors-to-be who have not yet finalized housing plans.
"The workshops, along with the off-campus housing enlistment will be helpful.... We're doing lots," Residential Life Director Lorraine Toppi said.
The Office of Residential Life does not anticipate any substantial changes in the housing selection process this year. Any changes in the number of rooms available, as well as statistics on juniors' chances for obtaining on-campus housing, will be released closer to the week of the selection process, scheduled to begin for the general pool of students on Monday, March 26.
