Students returning from studying abroad in the fall 2016 semester are experiencing a shortage of housing options resulting from 61 fewer students leaving for study abroad this semester.

According to Kathleen DeGuzman of the Stern Center for Global Education, Dickinson “…had a total of 236 students abroad in the fall and a total of 175 abroad this spring,” creating a larger number of students on campus this spring than there were in the fall.

DeGuzman wrote in an email that more students generally study abroad in the fall than in the spring, but also mentioned that “the numbers can sometimes fluctuate slightly…study abroad numbers always tend to be high with roughly 65% of Dickinson students studying abroad during their time here.”  She also pointed out that Dickinson can expect “for next year[’s numbers to] be a good deal higher, due to the large sophomore class.”

Due to this gap, many returning juniors have been assigned housing in primarily freshman dorms.

“Most students living on the first floor of Davidson-Wilson, were assigned to live there in the fall,” said Angie Harris, associate dean of students and of residence life and housing.

Harris also stated that it was “initially challenging to house the 160 students returning from abroad in the 100 spaces that were being vacated by students going abroad, [however] additional spaces have come available in January giving us more space than anticipated.”

DW is not the only first-year dorm housing juniors. Edward Brown ’18, an American Studies major who studied abroad in Norwich, England, is currently housed in Cooper.  He is content with his housing arrangements despite being one of a few people “in kind of ‘weird’ situations for a junior… Res life was pretty open about the fact that there were more students returning than going abroad in the spring and that they would do their best to get us into the most appropriate housing for our year.”  Brown described his room in Cooper as “a nice open space, and I’ve got a good roommate, so I really don’t have the right to complain.”

Baylie Rubin ’18 considers herself lucky to be living in Morgan.  “I knew my housing arrangement from the beginning…[my friend and I] literally just flip-flopped” when [her friend] went abroad this spring.  “I know people who are in KW, Cooper and Atwater.”  Rubin is grateful for her housing situation because “when you’re a junior, you don’t expect to be living with freshmen.” 

Another student returning from abroad, Emily Rosenberg ’18, chose her roommate with whom she is housed in a Morgan quad.  “We live with two girls we don’t really know,” she said, and “would have, obviously, as juniors preferred to live in a Denny or a Goodyear or an apartment, but …[those housing options] are hard to get when you’re not here all year.” 

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to go abroad and to have had a housing assignment available when I returned,” maintained Brown. “That’s all I can ask for.”