For sophomores and juniors who plan to live on-campus next year, the wait to choose their housing is over. The housing lottery has been completed and apartment picks have been made. Not everyone got their first choice, of course, and the demand for singles surpassed the number of available rooms. But despite these predictable glitches, the decision to move the process forward was the right one.
Usually it’s February when students are stressing over housing for the coming year. It will be the same story for first-years in a few months. But now rising upperclassmen can breathe easy, or else buckle down and secure off-campus housing before it’s too late.
This year, the Office of Student Housing bumped the selection process forward three months in an attempt to solve problems that have plagued the department. In the past two years, housing results were at opposite ends of the spectrum: not enough beds to fill demand last fall and empty rooms this fall.
The selection process was moved in order to gauge demand for housing earlier in the year and act accordingly. However, the Housing Department encourages students to sign up for the lottery even if they plan to study abroad or live off-campus. This creates a good safety net for students, but significantly skews the housing figures for the coming year. Students who plan to live on-campus inevitably undergo more uncertainty as a result. The Housing Department can’t necessarily keep its promises.
Additionally, off-campus housing is difficult to obtain, regardless of what month students start looking. Leases are signed early in the year; students who aren’t organized in their housing search get left behind. However, although off-campus housing may be scarce in November, chances of securing a house are far better now than they are in February.
Thanks to Housing, sophomores and juniors already know if they will be living in a 36th Street townhouse or a Southwest Quad single. If they are not satisfied on-campus, they’ve got at least nine months to comb the dregs of Georgetown for the basement apartments that are left for next year.
