Spring Break
ResLife: no deposit in '09-10
Laurie Wilbur
Issue date: 1/27/09 Section: News
After discussions with the Bursar's office, ResLife has decided against reinstating a housing deposit for the 2009-2010 academic year. The proposed non-refundable $300 deposit would have been required from any eligible student that applied for housing and would have been due shortly after submitting the housing application.
According to Pamela Schipani, director of Housing Services, UConn had required a $150 deposit from students until 2003. After the university switched to the Peoplesoft system, the deposit was put on hold pending a decision about how it would be best administered with the new system. It was never reinstated.
With housing shortages becoming a relevant issue in the past few years, discussion of a deposit began again.
"It would help us [Housing Services] discern who wants housing and who does not," Schipani said. Approximately 600 students who were eligible for housing last year applied and were granted the option of on-campus housing but then opted against it. In the same year, a little over 100 eligible students in the housing lottery were shut out of housing selection. If a deposit were enacted, ResLife predicts that some of the 600 students that were unsure of their desire to live on campus might have been deterred from applying, opening up coveted spots for the 100 students who were serious about on-campus housing.
In a Nov. 20 Daily Campus article, Schipani said that, if a housing deposit were implemented, students who sign up for housing would receive a bill for $300 in the mail sometime after they sign up for housing. The money would not be an additional cost, but rather an upfront payment of part of the student's room and board fees.
Housing Services began meeting with the Bursar's Office during Spring 2008 regarding the deposit proposal. However, due to other projects and tasks that had to be done, it was agreed to too late in the year, leaving an inadequate amount of time to organize a feasible, cohesive deposit procedure, said Schipani. Instead of initiating a procedure that was rushed, plans have been postponed and will be considered for future academic years.
Already, a deposit is required for any new graduate student applying for on-campus housing. According to Schipani, there is a deposit in the case of graduate students because it is a much smaller group of students applying-about 200 compared to the 12,900 undergraduate students living on campus. The deposit for graduate housing has been successful in giving a truer idea of who truly wanted and needed housing.
Jacklyn Wojciechowski, a 4th semester dietetics major who is in the housing lottery, is an advocate of a housing deposit.
"I'm concerned that people who aren't serious about housing may get housing when I'm extremely certain that I want it."
According to Pamela Schipani, director of Housing Services, UConn had required a $150 deposit from students until 2003. After the university switched to the Peoplesoft system, the deposit was put on hold pending a decision about how it would be best administered with the new system. It was never reinstated.
With housing shortages becoming a relevant issue in the past few years, discussion of a deposit began again.
"It would help us [Housing Services] discern who wants housing and who does not," Schipani said. Approximately 600 students who were eligible for housing last year applied and were granted the option of on-campus housing but then opted against it. In the same year, a little over 100 eligible students in the housing lottery were shut out of housing selection. If a deposit were enacted, ResLife predicts that some of the 600 students that were unsure of their desire to live on campus might have been deterred from applying, opening up coveted spots for the 100 students who were serious about on-campus housing.
In a Nov. 20 Daily Campus article, Schipani said that, if a housing deposit were implemented, students who sign up for housing would receive a bill for $300 in the mail sometime after they sign up for housing. The money would not be an additional cost, but rather an upfront payment of part of the student's room and board fees.
Housing Services began meeting with the Bursar's Office during Spring 2008 regarding the deposit proposal. However, due to other projects and tasks that had to be done, it was agreed to too late in the year, leaving an inadequate amount of time to organize a feasible, cohesive deposit procedure, said Schipani. Instead of initiating a procedure that was rushed, plans have been postponed and will be considered for future academic years.
Already, a deposit is required for any new graduate student applying for on-campus housing. According to Schipani, there is a deposit in the case of graduate students because it is a much smaller group of students applying-about 200 compared to the 12,900 undergraduate students living on campus. The deposit for graduate housing has been successful in giving a truer idea of who truly wanted and needed housing.
Jacklyn Wojciechowski, a 4th semester dietetics major who is in the housing lottery, is an advocate of a housing deposit.
"I'm concerned that people who aren't serious about housing may get housing when I'm extremely certain that I want it."
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