It is that time of year again. Students separate into groups, register online and then for the next few days anxiously await the day in which their fate for the following year will be sealed. The answer comes in an e-mail. For some, a good number ensured a spot in their first choice living situation.

From the moment the e-mail was opened, that group knew the next year would find them living happily in the location they had dreamed about since their freshman year.

This, however, was not the reality for many students when the first round lottery numbers were drawn on March 22. Many groups did not get a good number, and an overwhelming number of groups did not receive a number at all.

The housing on campus works as follows: housing is guaranteed only for the first three years, so with few exceptions, seniors do not live on campus. Students who will be juniors next year, as well as mixed groups of juniors and sophomores, register for the lottery first.

Students with a start date of Fall 2002 or Spring 2003 are considered 2’s in the lottery process, while students with a start date of Fall 2003 or Spring 2004 are considered 1’s.

The housing lottery for 2’s and mixed groups has passed with disappointment and even anger from some students.

There were 79 spaces available for groups of seven in the Hill apartments and Village suites, and over 100 groups registered for these spaces. That left many groups without numbers.

Particularly at a disadvantage were mixed groups, groups with some 2’s and some 1’s, because the groups comprised entirely of 2’s have seniority.

Many transfer students, or groups that include transfer students, were unhappy because their groups did not get numbers. Many students who were in groups with transfer students feel the whole process is unfair, because students who transfer here their sophomore year are placed in suites with students who have been here since their freshman year.

Students who have been attending Quinnipiac since freshman year become friends with the transfer students, but if they choose to live with them they sacrifice the chance at a good lottery number.

“They say it’s fair, but if it was fair you wouldn’t need a number,” Sarah Nee said, a sophomore who transferred to Quinnipiac this past fall. “Transfer students have more trouble finding a group. Most people don’t want to live with transfers because they decrease their chances of getting their first choice of housing.”

Students who received numbers in the first lottery got to choose a place to live next year. Some groups had to reorganize, however, and will enter the lottery with current freshmen.

The second round of lottery numbers will be drawn on April 6.

Some students who did not receive numbers in the first lottery have regrouped and will enter the second lottery, planning to live in the Suites, or in Complex.

Other students, such as Nee and her group, plan to move off campus into apartments, so they don’t have to deal with the housing lottery for a second time.