What's Next For The Housing Lottery's Losers

The housing lottery results are in, but for 213 students, the gamble continues.

That's the number of students who lost housing this year, but they were automatically put on a waiting list and will be have highest priority when spaces become available, according to Pamela Schipani, director of housing services. They can choose to wait for housing spaces to open up, but these results may not be available until summer because incoming freshman still haven't applied for housing yet.

Last year, when 1,000 students lost housing in the lottery, 207 students from the waiting list received on-campus housing, Schipani said.

ResLife offered housing to 844 students throughout the summer but many students on the waiting list either removed themselves from it or turned down on-campus housing when it was offered to them because they had already found housing off-campus, Schipani said.

There are 11,115 residential spaces for students on campus, and the university currently houses about 11,300 students because some studies are converted to bedrooms, Schipani said.

ResLife determines how many students will lose housing after they receive housing applications. They subtract the number of available housing from the number of applications, but they also estimate cancellations. When more students lose housing, more students cancel their housing to live off-campus with their friends, Schipani said.

Not including incoming freshman, 9,363 students, have applied for housing so far this year, according to Schipani. Last year, 13,462 students, including freshman, applied for housing, and ResLife had to lottery off over 1,000 students.

This past October, ResLife randomly assigned lottery numbers ranging from one to 2,500 with some gaps in-between. Students with numbers 2,167 and higher are now on the waiting list, according to a Frequently Asked Lottery Questions document supplied by ResLife.

"This year is a much better lottery," Schipani said. "Not if you're affected by it, but if you're not affected by it, it's a much better lottery."

Since 2001, ResLife has conducted a lottery in which eligible students are randomly assigned numbers for housing, according to Schipani. Students who have been on campus for five or six semesters including the current semester and transfer students who have been on campus for two semesters were eligible for this lottery.

Students who have lived on campus for fewer than five semesters, students with full scholarships from the university, University Scholars, students with documented disabilities and students who are currently away for academic programs such as study abroad, Co-op and National Student Exchange were exempt from the lottery, according to the document provided by housing services.

ResLife does not use other factors such as GPA or student activity to determine who gets housing because all of those factors are subjective. Also, housing is a resource, so in a way, students with a lower GPA may need housing more. Schipani added the lottery was the best option because it puts everyone on "an even keel."

"If there was an option, if I didn't have to do this, I wouldn't do it," Schipani said. "We're hoping [it will be] two, three more years and we won't be in this situation anymore, but we don't make that decision ourselves."

David Gershaw, a 6th-semester management and engineering for manufacturing major, had lottery number 2,199. He tried not to worry about the housing lottery when the numbers came out, he said. However, this past Friday, he received an e-mail saying that he is number 10 on the waiting list.

"I'm hoping to get housing," Gershaw said. "I don't really want to move off campus - I'm taking a lot of credits next year."

Because of last year's results - with over 1,000 students losing housing - many students in the lottery were worried about their chances.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to get housing because so many people didn't last year," said Jamie Carey, a 6th-semester elementary education major. "It was nerve-racking."

Carey had lottery number 1,673, so she was safe from the cut-off.

"It was a huge sigh of relief to know that I don't have to deal with rent or utilities; it was such a relief off my shoulders," Carey said.

Contact Freesia Singngam at Freesia.Singngam@UConn.edu.