Unofficial counts show that college enrollment in Connecticut is up this year for the fifth time in a row, according to several media sources.
While colleges and universities throughout the state, including Fairfield University, adjust to the influx of new students, housing lags way behind.
Last September, about 90 students were forced into triples or converted lounges.
This year four female students were supposed to be housed in a lounge, but due to summer enrollment withdrawals those students were given permanent housing, according to Gary Stephenson, director of housing.
“Unfortunately, last year I lived in a forced triple for a few months,” said Amanda Smith, ’05. “I’m glad this year less people have to go through that torture.”
It was anticipated that 30 percent to 35 percent of students would live in forced triples this year, but that number has now dropped to 26 percent. According to Stephenson, this number is lower than it has been in the past.
Other area schools are also reporting a more positive housing situation. Sacred Heart University will have 30 students housed in Park Royal apartments off campus, but none in hotels like last year, according to the Connecticut Post.
With the addition of a new 372-room dormitory for upperclassmen, Quinnipiac University in Hamden is no longer offering $1,000 cash to move off campus and will not have any students housed at the Howard Johnson’s motel, said the Post.
A big variable affecting housing is the number of students who elected to live off-campus, said Stephenson. Last year, initially, more students chose to stay on-campus. However, once many realized that they would be living in the dorms for another year, they applied to live off-campus.
“Because we knew that we had little chance of getting a townhouse, we decided to get our money’s worth and move to the beach,” said Holly Dubay, ’04. “We also didn’t want to live in an overcrowded townhouse, especially when it would be cheaper to live off-campus.”
This year, like last year, each student will be given an individual lottery number. Housing officials believe this will allow students the best opportunity to be in a group and still receive a good lottery number.
“I did like how everyone got an individual group number, it gave us more options” said Dora Denardo, ’04. “Luckily I had a good number so my group got an apartment.”
“I hope the housing lottery goes smoother this year,” said Kim Liaw, ’04. “I know there were a lot of problems with it last year, I hope it was worked out.”
A lot of remodeling was done this summer, such as converting office space into dorm rooms and dorm rooms into office space. In Dolan, a triple was converted into office space and an office into classrooms. Regis gained four bedrooms and relocated the academic resource room. The ground floor of Gonzaga, also known as ‘The Pit,’ was transformed into office space for Housing Operations, Student Services and the Stag Card Office. According to Stephenson, while there was a bit of net loss in housing space, offices that were remodeled into dorms closely balanced this loss.
“I think it’s good that those offices were moved closer to the quad,” said Marissa Muzic, ’03. “They are much more conveniently located now.”
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