If you were frustrated over the housing selection process, you are not alone. I have not personally talked to anyone living on campus in the fall semester that is happy with their living situation, myself included.

Just days before housing opened, ResLife sent out an email with a document titled “What are my chances?” The document includes several charts of data on where each grade lived in the last five years, to give students a better understanding of their chances, options, and how to create backup plans. 

What this chart fails to account for is the influx of accepted students and the lack of houses that the college leased this past year in order to make up for freshmen living in Witwer. As a rising Junior, my initial plan was an apartment in Goodyear, then Denny, then whatever was left, and the worst-case scenario was Morgan Hall (where I live this year). This did not seem like an outrageous plan, because according to the chart, roughly 25% of Juniors get apartments. 

My roommates and I went in as four people, then when we realized all of the apartments were gone, decided that one of us would try for a single, and the other three would get a triple in Morgan. As a sophomore, I was able to get a triple in Morgan last year, so this seemed like a reasonable plan. So one of my roommates got her single at the 6:20 timeslot and by 6:35 all of the triple suites were gone, and now we are meant to live in one room, with three beds, and no private bathroom, as Juniors. 

Michael Wymer ‘25 said, “As Juniors, we were given statistical information from [ResLife] saying we should expect 25% of us to get an apartment, and the Seniors didn’t even get that. If they knew this would happen and told us what to expect, then this is on them. It is unfair to expect us to have a plan A, B, C etc. and not give us all the info because then it allows the blame to be placed on the student. Did they want us to move to the Greek alphabet?”

An issue that I’m sure many of us saw on the anonymous app YikYak, students expressed frustration with the amount of accommodations given out, and for reasons that they deemed as unnecessary. I think it’s important here not to blame students looking for comfortable living situations, as this is something that everyone wants. 

The blame should be put on ResLife for not communicating how an excess amount of accommodations would affect the housing selection, and for accepting accommodations up to two weeks before selection, when many students had already compiled their backup plans. And if more accommodations were met for nontraditional reasons, why not release a list of accommodations that can be met? 

I had personally been told that I could get a note for accommodations, but did not want to reach out to ResLife for fear of being rejected or told it was not serious enough. Now that I know that would not have been the case, I think that a better line of communication between the student body and the housing office would have been much appreciated. 

Rising Sophomore Talia Ullman ‘26 explained that Freshmen are in similar or [worse] situations as their previous year, which is not fair, as they anticipated an expected better housing. At least rising Sophomores and Juniors can look forward to apartments Senior year, right? Wrong! The Senior class was out of apartments by the 6:25 timeslot. What?! If we are paying $8-10k a year for housing, because we are required to live on campus, why are no students satisfied by the way this process was handled, and the outcomes provided for students?