UNL housing director: residence halls full

University of Nebraska-Lincoln residence halls are over capacity for the first time in a number of years, prompting university housing officials to inform students awaiting residence hall assignments that their first-choice residence may not be accommodated and that halls may be more crowded than usual.

"Our traditional-style residence halls are going to be at maximum or over capacity for the first several weeks of the school year," housing director Doug Zatechka said. "We will be sending out room assignments late this week, and we expect to have as many as 150 students assigned to temporary space at that time. We will have another 30 to 50 students assigned to East Campus, at Burr Hall, who would prefer to be at City Campus."

Zatechka said room assignments were going out now and should be arriving to students within days. Some students may receive a temporary assignment. Others may be permanently assigned to halls that they did not request. Temporary rooms are planned in some lounge areas, and in single rooms that have been converted to double rooms. They are termed temporary because as space becomes open in other locations, students will be moved as soon as possible to permanent assignments.

"This is good news depending on your perspective," Zatechka said. "Of course it shows the university's success in enrolling more freshman and transfer students than prior years. And it shows that housing is meeting the wide needs of the large number of students who are choosing to live on campus. It shows the popularity of our apartment-style complexes and that we're keeping more returning students on campus throughout their college career.

"But for the student who really had his or her heart set on a particular residence hall or who is assigned to a temporary space in a lounge area, I'm sure there will be disappointment. Hopefully students will keep in mind that returning students who sign contracts early will get first choice of locations next year. Overall, the residence hall experience ends up being one of the best ways for students to meet many new people and enjoy the university, and the patience in dealing with crowding will be worthwhile in the long run."

Housing has taken the following steps to increase the availability of housing for new students this year:

* Converted four floors of upperclass single rooms to double rooms for freshmen
* Converted three floors of vacation housing (in Selleck Hall) to non-vacation housing, which is typically favored by freshmen
* Converted two floors of single rooms in Abel Hall to double rooms
* Added temporary space in Harper, Schramm and Smith halls by converting a study room on each floor to temporary housing space
* Added temporary space in Abel, Sandoz and Selleck halls by converting community lounge space on each floor to temporary housing space.

Zatechka highlighted several points that fueled the housing crunch in 2006-07:

* Demand for both apartment-style and traditional on-campus housing is at an all-time high. More than 1,000 apartment-style beds filled up very quickly during the signup period in the spring. Traditional residence hall contracts received are approximately 400 higher than same time last year. Late-arriving housing requests for upperclass students are being turned away at this time.
* Housing is continuing to accept all freshman contracts because freshmen are required to live on campus.
* Probable reasons for increased traditional residence hall contracts include: increased freshman and transfer enrollment; increasing numbers of non-Lincoln area freshmen students; increasing number of Lincoln area students choosing to live on campus (freshmen are not required to live on campus if they commute from home in a 30-mile radius or live at other approved housing such as a fraternity); and the increasing percentage of students returning to traditional halls for their second, third, fourth years and beyond.
* Reasons cited by students as contributing to returning to campus include: Convenience of living on campus (proximity to classes); newly renovated and updated residence and dining halls; new meal plans that have unlimited access five days or seven days and extended hours (convenience and less money spent on snacks); reported interest in the campus community and feeling more a part of the university while living on campus.

CONTACTS: Doug Zatechka, Director, Housing, (402) 472-3561; and
Sue Gildersleeve, Assoc. Director, Housing, (402) 472-3561