Scripps College has made changes to address last year’s on-campus housing shortage, when over-enrollment for the class of 2021 resulted in 38 first-year students living in the Claremont Graduate University apartments on Foothill Boulevard.
The administration made use of existing space on campus and renovated the president’s house, the Revelle House, to house more students, wrote Carolyn Robles on behalf of Scripps Student Affairs and Facilities in an email to TSL.
In addition to the Revelle House renovation, students housed at CGU were given priority in the room draw and allowed to go first in the selection process, Robles wrote.
“I don’t believe there was a more efficient/fair way for [the Office of Residential Life] to go about it,” Justine Iwata SC ’21 wrote in a message to TSL. Iwata is satisfied with her current housing in Mary Routt Hall following her year living in the CGU apartments.
Breanna Kim SC ’21, who was one of the 28 students to live in the CGU apartments for the entirety of the 2017-2018 academic year, had the first pick out of all the former CGU-housed students. She is currently living in a three-person suite in Nan Elizabeth Walsh Schow Hall, commonly known as NEW Hall.
“I’m really happy about where I’m living,” Kim said. “I’m kind of sad that I lived off-campus for a year to be able to live here, but all things considered, I’m really happy with where I’m living now.”
The simple convenience of living near campus buildings, like dining halls, is new to students who spent their first year at the CGU apartments.
“Last year we didn’t get to experience living on campus like all the other first years,” said Miriam Hauer-Jensen SC ’21, who is happy with her four-person suite in NEW Hall.
This year, all enrolled Scripps students who wish to live on campus may do so. The college is optimistic about the housing situation and does not anticipate a housing shortage in the future, according to Robles.
“I’m glad that Scripps has made efforts to alleviate the lack of housing by renovating Revelle House and by keeping the admit rate a bit lower,” wrote Iwata. “I don’t think any first-year students should have to live off-campus, especially when they are not given another option, and the school promises on-campus housing to all new students.”
This article was last updated Oct. 5 at 1:42 p.m.