Although the demand for students who want on-campus housing is higher than ever before, TCU Housing & Residence Life is trying to accommodate each student to the best of its abilities, Director of TCU Housing & Residence Life Craig Allen said.

"We have more beds than we have ever had, but at the same time we've increased beds, the number of freshmen being admitted has increased," Allen said.

Two years ago, there were a little over 1,800 freshmen who are now sophomores and as sophomores they are becoming juniors this year, he said. There is less space available for them as there has been for previous classes because there are more juniors and seniors than TCU has ever had before, he said.

Allen said halls are already set aside for incoming freshmen and they are not going to be filled up by juniors or seniors.

"Freshmen are still applying, so we haven't done anything with freshman assignments yet," Allen said.

Regardless of classification, all current students were asked to fill out a housing application if they wanted to live on campus next year, Allen said. There were about 2,200 students who applied and each student received a randomly generated lottery number that determined when he or she could sign up for housing, he said.

"Everyone had the same chance of getting a good lottery number as everybody else," Allen said. "The order in which people went were sophomores with priority, mixed groups of sophomores with juniors and seniors and juniors and seniors were the last group."

Sophomores who are wait-listed will all eventually be guaranteed housing, he said.

Allen said on-campus housing is not guaranteed for juniors and seniors and if upperclassmen thought differently, they should have done their research. Although several hundred juniors and seniors live on campus, there are not enough beds for all upperclassmen, he said.

"There's this myth that no juniors and seniors live on campus — that's not true," he said. "We added beds in the last five years. All of Sandage and McCart [apartments] used to be graduate students and are now undergraduate juniors and seniors. We have condos at Bellaire, and there are 30 beds for juniors and seniors."

One option for students who are unable to find housing on campus, Allen said, is the GrandMarc apartments off of Berry Street.

"We partner with the GrandMarc and lease beds that we make available in our housing lottery so that's another way we've added beds," Allen said. "But even in those beds that we've added, the numbers of students have grown. As those numbers of students have grown, the freshman and sophomores are taking up more and more beds, which in effect means there are less beds for juniors and seniors."

"A different environment" — The GrandMarc

According to the Housing & Residence Life website, a single room in a quad in Carter is $3,600 per semester compared to a single room in a quad $4,400 at the GrandMarc. This is an $800 difference for students who chose to live in the GrandMarc instead of on campus in a dorm.

"If [students] chose to live in the GrandMarc, the cost for rent when including housing and meal plan is comparable to on campus," Allen said. "Obviously, it's different because it's a different living environment."

Overall, Allen said prices are determined based on the model of living. For example, living in Colby Hall is different than living in Amon G. Carter Hall.

Representatives from GrandMarc at Westberry Place, an apartment building located on Berry Street, wrote in a letter to the Skiff that they are not affiliated with TCU residential housing and questions about living on campus should be directed to housing & residence life.

Freshman music education major Kayla Poole said she could not find a group to sign up with and missed the deadline for the housing application. When she found a group of three other girls, she was not able to sign up with them and had to wait until the second-to-last day of sign ups.

"When I went to sign up there were only three rooms left in the GrandMarc," Poole said. "I'm [going to be] a sophomore and I'm required to live on campus, but technically the GrandMarc isn't even on campus."

Poole said she emailed Housing & Residence Life to get on the waitlist for a room in Amon G. Carter Hall. She said she hoped the fourth spot in the room would become available.

"I also told them I want anything else besides the GrandMarc," she said. "Because I am a music major and the GrandMarc is kind of far from the music building," Poole said.

Other off-campus options

Allen said TCU Housing & Residence Life is doing a number of things to help students.

Juniors and seniors may attend an information session tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the Brown-Lupton University Union about off-campus housing alternatives for upperclassmen.

In addition to the GrandMarc, there are resources in the housing office for students who are unable to live on campus, Allen said. There is a guide for off-campus living and listings for other apartment complexes in the area, Allen said.

The office doesn't necessarily point students to one particular place, but it makes opportunities available for students to decide for themselves what might be the best place, he said.

The office can also provide students information about local real estate agents who can help them find a place to live, whether it be a house or apartment.

"We do a lot of talking to students whether they are calling or emailing us," Allen said. "We respond to questions to help students make the decision where is the best place for them to live."

Sophomore secondary education major Matthew Castaneda said he called housing because he had no idea where he and his roommates were going to live next year.