1,000 Denied Housing

By: Kala Kachmar

Posted: 3/29/07

The UConn housing lottery displaced more than 1,000 upperclassmen and transfer students next year, sending these students scrambling to find off-campus housing.

Amy Jancewicz, a 6th-semester sociology major, will not be able to live on-campus her last year at UConn next year. Jancewicz, who has lived on campus since coming to UConn, had a number higher than the cutoff for those who will still get housing.

"I don't think it's fair that UConn doesn't have adequate housing to meet everyone's needs," Jancewicz said. "We're a state school. We have land, funding and resources at our disposal and it doesn't make sense that we don't have enough housing."

Lottery numbers 1 to 3,500 were randmly assigned to students last fall for the 2007-2008 year, according to Pam Schipani, associate director of Housing Services.

Students were notified in January that any students with a lottery number below about 2,500 would get housing, Schipani said. Those with the remaining numbers would be put on a waiting list and would be given housing in lottery number order if it became available because of students withdrawing from housing.

"Even if you don't get housing in January, you are put on a waiting list and still have a small chance of getting [housing]," Jancewicz said. "But you can rely on the fact that you could get housing again and not look off campus, or you could get off-campus housing and then get back on, so it's a lose-lose situation."

Since the lottery process began in 2001, between 800 and 2,900 students have been given a lottery number each year, Schipani said.

Schipani would not comment on why so many more students were on the waiting list.

The number of freshmen expected to attend the Storrs campus has only increased by 50 students in the past five years, Schipani said. Schipani would not say how many of those students lived on campus and how many commuted, but she did say 3,141 freshmen lived on campus last year, compared to 3,148 this year.

Students admitted as freshmen are guaranteed four semesters of on-campus housing, while transfers are guaranteed two, according to the Department of Residential Life (ResLife).

Students who receive a full scholarship from the university, students with a documented disability and students who are away from campus for academic programs such as study abroad are exempt from the lottery, a ResLife fact sheet indicated.

The lottery is random and does not take into consideration GPA or disciplinary records when giving lottery numbers, according to the fact sheet.

"I feel there are some people that did not deserve to get housing because they don't care enough about their college career," said Ron Leask, a 6th-semester computer science engineering major.

"It's not fair that UConn doesn't weigh who gets to stay on campus and who gets kicked off," he said. "Whether or not you stay on should have something to do with disciplinary record and academic standing."

Leask began his search immediately after he was notified he did not get housing, but was unable to find housing within walking distance that suited him and his roommates.

"I wasn't planning on having a car on campus," he said. "But now I have to."

According to the ResLife Web site, students do not always need a car be able to live off campus because some off-campus options are within walking distance to UConn's bus route.

"Finding off-campus housing that meets individual students' needs is very difficult," Jancewicz said. "I've been looking for a few months and haven't found anything that is worth it to me."

Jancewicz said making the unexpected transition from living on campus to off campus would be a burden for her.

"I like living on campus because it saves time with commuting and doing daily tasks like cooking and cleaning a house or apartment," Jancewicz said. "Living off-campus will add a lot of small worries to my day."

Because she is forced to live off campus, Jancewicz plans to take a heavy course load next semester so she can graduate in December.

"It's too much of a financial burden for me to pay tuition for both semesters. Even though I have no choice, my parents will only pay for on-campus housing," Jancewicz said. "I'll have to pay for my car insurance, gas, rent, good and other expenses that go along with living on my own."

Leask said living off campus will cost him more than if he was to live on campus. Leask's rent is $500 per month for 12 months, not including the costs of food, utilities, toiletries and gas.

Average room and board fees to live on campus total about $8,800 for the year, according to UConn's Office of the Bursar Web site.

"You end up paying more for housing, in my case anyway, because you have to sign long-term leases. Our lease is from June 2007 to July 2008," Leask said.

Eric Grindrod, a 4th-semester electrical engineering major who transferred from the University of Hartford, said he feels he will be alienated living off-campus because his friends were able to stay on campus.

"I feel like I'm being kicked off campus for no reason. I'm not a senior, and all my friends still live on campus," he said. "I'm being jipped out of one or two more years I would have liked to spend on campus."

Grindrod said he is not ready to live off-campus and will have to learn how to cook and have to get a job to pay for his own food in addition to his parents paying for rent.

"I'm also worried about not being able to find a roommate," he said. "I see flyers around campus that say 'roommate wanted' and I just hope I find someone so I don't have to end up paying all the rent.

"If students live on campus, they have easier access to the library, computer labs, professors' office hours and other student resources," Grindrod said.

Grindrod said it will be more inconvenient to meet with professors, especially with their constricted schedules.

According to Schipani, the number of students applying for housing has increased, but she would not say by how much.

"UConn should have had foresight to build more dorms as they saw the numbers of students applying increase," Jancewicz said.