Living on campus has its advantages and its disadvantages. For many, one major disadvantage is going through the housing lottery. Numbers are randomly assigned by a computer to students by class year each fall, leaving some students elated and others disappointed. Is the housing lottery really fair?
The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) runs the housing lottery each March for returning undergraduates. To make the process smooth for students, ORLL offers information sessions, information pamphlets and open houses in addition to regular availability by phone and email.
The lottery process still creates frustration for students, though. "It feels unorganized, and it's really stressful," sophomore Sade Campbell said.
Most students admitted that they had not used the information provided by ORLL to facilitate the process. "It was really confusing because there was nobody there to tell you what to do," freshman Jack Wittpenn said. "But I didn't go to the information sessions or anything, either."
The fairness of the housing lottery seemed suspect to some. "It's not fair, because if you have a bad number one year, you should get a good number the next year," DeMeo said.
"I hear a lot of people complaining that it's not fair," junior Pat Romero said. "I heard they were changing it so that you would get a better number after a bad one, which would be good for me because I always get the worst number every year,"
Living off campus is a common choice for juniors who are closed out of the housing lottery, but being on campus remains appealing for some. "The biggest advantage to living on campus is being closer ... being able to roll out of bed and go to class," Romero said.
One student explained that there should be a choice for sophomores whether or not to live on campus. "Sophomores are required to live on campus, but some are ready to live off campus," junior Geoff Brown said. "Meanwhile there are juniors who want to live on campus but can't because of the two-year requirement for sophomores. It shouldn't be an issue."
