AT LONG last, Family Weekend is upon us, which means parents and families descending on Charlottesville en masse and, for some students, their first reunion with relatives since the start of the semester. It also means it's time for the Housing Division's Open House for rising upperclassmen. For many first years, this looming event has begun a rush of speculation about whom they will live with and where. This speculation, unfortunately, comes much too soon for some; housing applications for next year are due just one short month from now.
Give the administration and the Housing Division some credit; the deadline for housing applications last year was Nov. 1, even earlier than this year's Nov. 30 date. The University is trying to be responsive to students' needs and not force them to rush this important decision. However, the deadline the year before that was a much more comfortable one in the spring, giving students more time to think things over.
Why is the date now earlier in the year? It's mostly due to the requests of students who want their on-Grounds and off-Grounds options on the table at the same time. For this to happen, either the local landlords need to move the dates that students can sign leases back, or the University needs to move the date of its housing offers up. But there's considerable pressure on landlords to move their dates up, rather than back, from students. Director of Accommodations John Evans said in an interview, "The real issue is that the market is driven by affluent students and parents who want to be first in line." This early demand creates the impression that if students don't move quickly, they won't get a good place off Grounds or even any place at all.
The second concern is simply incorrect. According to Evans, there have been plenty of off-Grounds vacancies year-round for the past several years. There's also considerable construction of student-oriented apartments still going on. As for the concern about getting a choice location, there's probably little to be done about that. Those apartments will probably still go to the students willing to commit to a lease first. But if students who want to weigh in on-Grounds options wait even until spring they can still find a perfectly good place to live off Grounds.
The housing application deadline, therefore, should be moved back to the spring. Although some students have already decided on groups to room with next year, many are still in search of a group or even a roommate, and many of those in a group would probably still appreciate more time. This open house also corresponds with the release of the Course Offering Directory for the spring, which by itself would give students plenty to worry about. The conventional wisdom when choosing college roommates beyond first year is to live through an exam period with people before deciding to live with them -- a luxury the current system does not afford.
Another problem faced by students applying in groups for upperclass housing is that of group members with aspirations to live in Brown College or to be a resident advisor. Currently, the date students are notified they are accepted to Brown is the same day the housing application is due. If a student in a group is accepted, this will leave the group virtually no time to find a replacement, and if a student without a group isn't, he or she will have a hard time finding a group to join. Moving the application date to the spring would fix this problem by giving Brown time to go through its complete application process. After this, there would still be time for those rejected to find alternative arrangements.
Evans said that last year there were a large number of single applicants for on-Grounds housing, although there was no way to compare this with data from years past. Of course, some students have always preferred to live alone and are trying for single rooms. They certainly constitute a portion of this group. But it's also possible that some of these applicants were so rushed that, without the time to search for exactly what or whom they wanted, they simply gave up and applied by themselves. That should never have to happen. It takes time for students to sift through their friends and find the ones they would live with the best, and they should be given as much as possible.
Matt Waring is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint writer.
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