Every February 7, the University Housing Division sends out housing letters to first years who have applied for on-Grounds housing.
Some students get their first choice, some get second or third, and then there are those who are put on the waiting list.
Although some students are put on the waiting list, Director of Housing Mark Doherty said all students who apply eventually get placed somewhere in on-Grounds housing.
"We've found that we are able to accommodate students if they elect to stay on the waiting list through the summer," Doherty said.
Doherty said even groups of students who apply together and are put on the waiting list should be offered a spot together in some location at some point.
But waiting until the end of the summer to find out the living situation for that semester can be a stressful ordeal, especially when the choice of off-Grounds houses and apartments becomes considerably smaller as the spring semester nears its end.
Third-year College student Sarah Sisti and five of her friends applied to live on Grounds, marking Lambeth Field Apartments as their first choice and Bice House as their second choice.
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"We figured we would at least get our second choice," Sisti said.
But the group was put on the waiting list and "housing couldn't guarantee that we'd find out before the summer," she said.
Because Sisti and her group were put on the waiting list and felt the pressure of time, they opted to search for a place off Grounds before the options slimmed out. Although they found a place off Grounds, the group eventually was assigned to an apartment in the Gooch/Dillard Residence hall a few weeks after they signed their lease.
"A group of students will apply and give their preferences," Doherty said. "If they don't get first priority, they aren't interested in other choices."
While the prospect of living in their second-choice housing area may cause some students to look elsewhere, living on Grounds for another year is an attractive alternative to paying monthly rent and utilities.
"I'd always planned on staying on Grounds," Sisti said. "But we had to decide too early."
Sisti's problem is common among students, since many apartment managers begin offering leases in October, much earlier than the on-Grounds housing application deadline.
According to housing officials, the applications from first-year students and upperclass students looking to move back on Grounds are due on Feb. 7. The assignments are then mailed out March 5, either informing students of their new home, or that they have been put on the waiting list and will receive further notification as new spots open up.
While some students feel the pressure to get a lease when they are placed on the waiting list, others are less concerned.
"I missed the deadline by one week," third-year College student Keith Leung said. He said he went to the Housing Office when he realized he missed the deadline and they added him to the waiting list.
"All summer I had no clue where I was going to live. I found out one month before school started that I was going to live in Copley," Leung said.
Leung said that although he had to wait through the summer, the process was not that bad, and that living on Grounds was easier than finding somewhere off Grounds.
As undergraduate student enrollment increases each year, the demand for on-Grounds housing does as well, Doherty said.
However, he added that the increase has not translated into an inability to meet housing requirements, though.
Because some students who are offered a spot from the start do not accept it for various reasons, there are vacancies in each housing facility that are never filled, Doherty said.
"We have between 70 to 80 bed spaces every year, and sometimes they are never filled," he said.
Besides high student demand for on-Grounds housing, another reason for the waiting list is that the Housing Division does not oversubscribe the system, Doherty said.
"If we offer 100 more spaces than we have space for and shrinkage doesn't occur, we get triples," he said.
However, the increase in undergraduate enrollment has led the Housing Division to consider building a new upperclass housing facility, Doherty said.
The Division is in the very preliminary stages of planning for a new residence, Doherty said.
The new building would probably have between 200 and 250 beds and be built near the Cavalier Inn on Ivy Road, he said.
Before they make a commitment, the Division will "be sure that we reach out to the students on Grounds and off Grounds, so whatever we build will include student opinion," Doherty said.
Funding is one problem that keeps the Division from committing to building a new residence.
According to Doherty, the Division is an auxiliary department, meaning it receives no money from state-allocated funds.
In order to build a new dorm, the Division must pay for construction with bonds. The bonds are then paid back with the rent from students who live in the building.
"If we overbuild, we still need to pay the bonds back, and the rate for students" living in other on-Grounds buildings go up, Doherty said. "We must meet demand, but not overbuild."
Doherty also added that the new Asian and Middle Eastern language dorm currently under construction will open 78 more upperclass spaces.
"Many of the students who would be interested in living in the language house are already living on Grounds," which will increase the number of other spaces for students who wish to live on Grounds, Doherty said.
In the future, with the possibility of a new housing facility with 200 to 250 more beds and the addition of the new language house, students who wish to live on Grounds may not have to deal with a waiting list and a summer-long delay to discover where they will be living that year.
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