As students return to campus for the spring semester, those looking to relocate will have to deal with few openings and wait for spaces to become available.

The ability to accommodate whole-room requests has been difficult because whole-room vacancies do not happen in large numbers for the spring semester, said Sara Miller of SU News Services, in an email. Accommodating whole-room requests will not be possible because of this, Miller said.

Additionally, housing is also dealing with students not moving out of current spaces until they return to campus for the spring semester, making spaces unavailable until after the first week of classes, Miller said. But students don’t need to worry about a housing shortage, she said.

‘There is no shortage, but students can always contact the housing office to speak with someone (about) their residential needs,’ Miller said.

One hundred and twelve students requested individual room changes, 84 requested group room changes and 51 completed pull-in requests, or direct room trades, Miller said.

These numbers are about the same each spring, though study abroad programs and graduation can slightly increase the number of available rooms, she said. At the start of the fall semester, SU had to convert lounge and study spaces in residence halls to accommodate for an unexpectedly large incoming class.

The housing situation is hoped to improve in the future with additional housing being built. The construction of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Centennial Hall housing facility will satisfy some of the demand of an unusually large freshman class, but students will remain in converted lounge spaces, according to a Dec. 9 article in The Daily Orange.

Starting in October and November, Terra Peckskamp, director of the SU Office of Residence Life, realized that vacancies would be sparse. She said room changes have never been guaranteed at SU.

‘Some of it is having some patience,’ Peckskamp said. ‘We’ll have to make sure that we’re rolling our sleeves up and doing the work that we do for students.’

Since SU requires first- and second-year students to live in campus housing, the university cannot deny those students housing. As a result, lounges have been converted into rooms, Peckskamp said. SU has previously converted rooms at the Sheraton University Hotel and Conference Center for student housing while waiting for demand to be met. She said the construction of the Ernie Davis residence hall, which was completed in 2009, has helped make room for students.

‘We’re not so far off that we’re turning students away,’ she said.

Much of ORL’s work is helping students adjust to their current living arrangements before committing to a move, Peckskamp said. But with students living in lounges, it has made it difficult for resident advisers to hold meetings, although creative RAs have been able to adjust, Peckskamp said.

‘We make it livable, we make it manageable,’ Peckskamp said, ‘and if it’s a situation where somebody needs to move, we try to make sure that process goes as smoothly as possible.’

geclarke@syr.edu

Published on January 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm