Despite Colby Hall opening in the fall, rising juniors and seniors are still having trouble finding on-campus housing.
This year there was an increase in the number of juniors and seniors who applied for on-campus housing, but TCU only has 2,200 spaces available for sophomores, juniors and seniors, said Craig Allen, director of housing and residence life.
All students who live on campus now are invited to go through a lottery process to receive assigned on-campus housing. Allen said the lottery process is random, but sophomores do have some priority because TCU requires them to live on campus.
“All sophomores have to be accommodated because we require them to be on campus, but it is also based on the hall and what we have designated for what group of students,” Allen said.
Juniors and seniors are not required to live on campus, but some students said they prefer to because it is cheaper and more convenient.
Sophomore child development major Ashley Maffit said she thought it would be easier to live on campus because she will be studying abroad for one semester during her junior year.
“I just thought it would be easiest to live on campus,” Maffit said. “That way I don’t have to worry about sub-leasing or anything like that.”
Some areas on campus such as the Sandage-McCart apartments and most of the Tom Brown-Pete Wright apartments are reserved specifically for juniors and seniors. However, juniors and seniors can live where sophomores live, Allen said.
Although some rising juniors and seniors were able to receive room assignments through the lottery process, others weren’t so lucky.
“I do not have a room right now so that’s a little concerning but I am hoping to get one within the next few months as housing settles in and they will continue to assign rooms to upperclassmen,” Maffit said.
Sophomore business information systems major Smith Sheehy said she is concerned that some housing is being saved for students who live off campus to have the opportunity to come back to live on campus.
“I understand why they’re doing it, but most people when they live off campus don’t want to move back on campus,” Sheehy said. “It’s kind of frustrating that I want to live on campus, that’s all I want to do and I still don’t have a spot to live.”
Allen said there is still a chance that rising juniors and seniors will receive room assignments on campus as the housing process continues.
“We have a small number of beds we will assign in the next few weeks,” Allen said. “Then as we get cancellations, we can offer some of those spaces to juniors and seniors.”
Allen said he advises upperclassmen to be patient as they are working to accommodate as many students as possible.
