In an e-mail sent out Apr. 24, Housing Director Deanna Bos informed students currently placed in deferred housing that the school anticipates finding on-campus housing for all of them.
Before they received this e-mail, many of these students feared that due to the large number of students in deferred housing and limited number of available beds on campus, the school was going to be forced to place students in the College Park Apartments.
The e-mail explained that the previously stated number of students in deferred housing—70—is much higher than the actual number of students still looking for rooms.
“We have had an opportunity to look at the list of people who actually are deferred, and there are not as many as it seemed at first,” Bos wrote. “We found that a few of those who did not draw rooms were planning on living off campus or taking semester leaves.”
The new projected number of students who will receive deferred housing for the 2010-2011 school year is 46. According to Bos, the number of students who receive deferred housing is typically between 35 and 68, meaning this year’s number is well within the normal range. Bos added that this number might continue to go down and noted that the number of available beds might increase.
“After the incoming class of 2014 is determined, we will be able to release the extra rooms that we have held out for sponsor groups,” Bos wrote. “Also, during the summer months, students decide to take a leave of absence or move off campus. These vacancies become available for students who were not able to select rooms during the room draw process.”
Part of the reason the school has been able to avoid deferring students off-campus in the past few years was the decision to make the College Park Apartments available to students. Bos expressed gratitude toward the students who made the decision to live there either before or during room draw.
“Obviously, we would prefer to have students on campus; however, there are a finite number of rooms on campus.We cannot grow any more beds,” Bos said. “We appreciate those students who took our announcements seriously and came forward to request College Park. We trust that they will have a good year and gain a unique experience.”
Although the possibility of forcing some students into College Park cannot officially be ruled out until the 2014 class size is determined, Bos is fairly confident she will be able to find on-campus housing for all students seeking it. For now, Bos said the school “has taken College Park for deferred housing off the table.”
According to Bos, after the final number of available beds and students in deferred housing is determined, the school will place students with deferred housing by room draw number. The school expects to inform these students of their new rooms by Aug. 16.