Walking around the freshman residence halls recently, one would notice the large number of signs posted everywhere by groups of students looking for roommates. In the bathroom in my hallway there are already four signs on the mirror looking for one or two girls to fill a room. This is because of the recent increase in the number of people placed in each room in the sophomore suites.
The already difficult Quinnipiac housing lottery has only been made worse by this seemingly sudden change. Until this year, eight people were needed to fill a room in the Larson, Perlroth and Troup dorms and now the number is ten. Students who had already counted on having a room of eight people are now faced with the dilemma of finding two more people to fill their room. Students who were once desperate singles searching for roommates are now the most sought after people on campus.
The reason for this change is because there were such a large number of admitted students who chose to attend Quinnipiac this year. Although the same number was admitted as in previous years, more students chose to attend and there is simply not enough housing for all of them. Instead of there being two people in each of the four bedrooms in the suites, there now has to be two bedrooms of three. This causes problems beyond overcrowding. The members of each group have to decide which rooms will have to have the third person and who they are going to get to fill the empty spots.
In my own situation, I was in a group of eight who needed to find two more roommates. We found one roommate very easily but we were nervous that we would not find another before the lottery began. Lucky for us, the problem was solved when a girl who we thought was transferring decided not to and wanted to room with us. Although I am no longer in search of more roommates, I know many others who are. I have friends who only have eight roommates and have hung signs in the other freshman dorms. Also, to decide which rooms had to have three people, we chose out of a hat because no one wanted the extra roommate. If there are groups who do not fill the requirement by the time the lottery begins, then they will have to be split up.
Quinnipiac administration should have told students about this change sooner. Although there is no other place for them to house students at this time, the way students found out about the situation is very unfair. It wasn’t until an informational email about university housing was sent to all students that anyone was made aware of the change. Even then, the change was not explicitly stated in the email. This also occurred after everyone had already paid their nonrefundable housing deposits. Some people who may now wish to live off campus cannot get that money back.
Everyone should have been notified as soon as the decision was made so that instead of forming groups and having to franticly search for more roommates, students could have already made groups of 10. Instead, they have to suffer with the possibility of getting split up because they were uninformed.
