Spring Break
ResLife may require $300 housing deposit
Lidia Ryan
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: News
ResLife is considering reinstalling a $300 housing deposit fee for students who opt for student housing next academic year as a way of anticipating how many people will remain on campus, according to Director of Housing Services Pamela Schipani.
The idea has not been approved yet but has been put in the parent newsletter in order to alert students and their parents to the possible change in policy. If the deposit policy is implemented, students will receive a bill for $300 in the mail sometime after they sign up for housing, Schipani said. The money would not be an additional cost, but rather an upfront payment of students' room and board fee.
The deposit would hopefully reduce the need for a lottery by eliminating the problem of students signing up for housing only to change their minds at the last minute, Schipani said. The housing deposit was part of past university policy until it was discontinued in 2004.
Ally DaSilva, a 5th-semester accounting major, thinks it would be a good idea to have a deposit.
"It would be a good way to determine who really wants to be on campus," DaSilva said. "I feel like maybe I would have gotten better housing these past three years if there had been one all along."
DaSilva will not be affected by the deposit, however, because she is moving off campus next year in order to live with all her friends.
UConn's housing policy is "a bad situation for seniors because by the time you figure out if you got housing, it's too late to put a deposit down on an apartment," DaSilva said. "You have to pick before you know."
Housing services has already determined that a target number of 3,360 freshmen will be given housing next year and around 550 transfer students will be guaranteed housing as well, Schipani said. All freshmen who apply for housing on time are guaranteed housing, and the enrollment management staff determines how many transfer students will get housing.
Students who have lived on campus for five semesters are not guaranteed future university housing and are thrown into a lottery system. This year, housing services distributed 2,272 lottery numbers to students who have been living on campus for more than five semesters. This is a decrease from last year when 2,305 lottery numbers were distributed, and the year before that when 3,210 were distributed.
The idea has not been approved yet but has been put in the parent newsletter in order to alert students and their parents to the possible change in policy. If the deposit policy is implemented, students will receive a bill for $300 in the mail sometime after they sign up for housing, Schipani said. The money would not be an additional cost, but rather an upfront payment of students' room and board fee.
The deposit would hopefully reduce the need for a lottery by eliminating the problem of students signing up for housing only to change their minds at the last minute, Schipani said. The housing deposit was part of past university policy until it was discontinued in 2004.
Ally DaSilva, a 5th-semester accounting major, thinks it would be a good idea to have a deposit.
"It would be a good way to determine who really wants to be on campus," DaSilva said. "I feel like maybe I would have gotten better housing these past three years if there had been one all along."
DaSilva will not be affected by the deposit, however, because she is moving off campus next year in order to live with all her friends.
UConn's housing policy is "a bad situation for seniors because by the time you figure out if you got housing, it's too late to put a deposit down on an apartment," DaSilva said. "You have to pick before you know."
Housing services has already determined that a target number of 3,360 freshmen will be given housing next year and around 550 transfer students will be guaranteed housing as well, Schipani said. All freshmen who apply for housing on time are guaranteed housing, and the enrollment management staff determines how many transfer students will get housing.
Students who have lived on campus for five semesters are not guaranteed future university housing and are thrown into a lottery system. This year, housing services distributed 2,272 lottery numbers to students who have been living on campus for more than five semesters. This is a decrease from last year when 2,305 lottery numbers were distributed, and the year before that when 3,210 were distributed.
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