Twenty-four rising sophomore students will have to wait for their housing placements once the housing process is over, as shared by Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett Tuesday.
Confusion has been spreading across Quinnipiac University’s first-year class concerning the housing lottery process, after delays and fake information spread over the past two weeks.
A screenshot of a fake email circulated amongst the first year students Monday night that alleged The Commons Residence Hall will house both first-year and sophomore classes next fall. An official email sent by the university later that night proved that information to not be true.
However the university’s website stated that change as well, until about Tuesday midday.
“We didn’t do that, I don’t know who did it, it was not really smart,” Ellett said.
Originally, first-year students were set to select housing on April 7 and 8. They were notified on April 3 that selection dates were pushed back to April 14-16.
On April 7 students received an email informing them that a higher percentage of students applied for housing than in previous years.
“This year we had a much higher percentage of 93.4% compared to 88% of first year students wishing to be in housing, resulting in 100 more students than anticipated submitted contracts,” Melissa Karipidis, director of Housing wrote.
To combat this issue, each suite in The Village would now include two double rooms and one triple, instead of the previous configuration of three doubles.
The information site about The Village residence halls now includes a tour video showcasing the room as a triple, with a bunk bed and a loft bed.
The email also talked about a possible option of turning The Hill Residence Hall’s third room into a triple — which was also originally designed to be one — if the students wish so, but unlike with The Village, the university chose not to make this change mandatory.
“Hindsight maybe we should have,” Ellett said. “I thought it would still be good to have a diversity of options for students. We’ll see what happens, there’s a lot of change and turns that will happen in the next few weeks and months.”
And then on April 15 at 6:47 p.m. another email went out to the rising sophomore body from Karipidis, stating that “to date, 95% of the sophomore class has been assigned housing and the process will conclude tomorrow at 12noon. There may be some students who will be unable to choose a room. These students will be assigned housing in the coming weeks as space becomes available.”
The email continued with, “We acknowledge the stress that this process may have caused. We will continue to work with you to address any potential changes and support your needs.”
Which caused some uproar on the popular college anonymous social media app YikYak, with students commenting: “‘There might be some students who will be unable to choose a room.’ IM SORRY??? WHAT???” or “Crazy email office of housing.”
“Not everyone is guaranteed to select their space,” Ellett clarified. “But everyone will be given housing, so those 24 students as people cancel, they will be put in one of those spaces. It’s a lot less than the 100+ by doing the triples in the village.”
Ellett explained that the university makes predictions based on past years to allocate a number of beds for the incoming class.
“For the past three years, we have had 88% freshman to sophomore housing, so we saved 88% for the class or 1572 and we ended up with 1668 I believe,” Ellett said.
He attributes that fact to two possible reasons, fewer students appealing the housing requirement and more local students choosing to live on campus in their second year.
The university then explored possible options, which included placing the students in a hotel, creating a waitlist or turning The Village’s third room back into triples, like it was from 2006 to 2019. Ellett said the decision came down to him, the Student Government Association and the first-year advisory board.
“They thought the best would be to do the triples because the anxiety the students might feel over not having a space over the summer would be higher than having the anxiety of having a triple,” Ellett said.
Quinnipiac’s housing process differs slightly from nearby universities.
For example, students at Marist University accumulate “priority points” based on their “academic average, involvement with extra-curricular activities, disciplinary history, and condition of their residence area,” according to their official website.
The University of Connecticut also faced a housing shortage, resulting in students across all grades no longer being guaranteed housing. Students received an email on Dec. 17 from The University of Connecticut Department of Residential Life explaining the issue.
“This meant that students who were not given housing after applying would automatically be placed on the housing waitlist and offered housing as vacancies occur,” according to The Daily Campus, UConn’s student-run newspaper. “Students who applied after the application deadline would also be placed on the waitlist, according to the 2025-2026 Housing Contract Draft.”
“We didn’t do what UConn did,” Ellet said. “As I understand it, they sent a letter saying you people who signed contracts? We don’t have housing for you. We chose not to do that.”
Ellett also mentioned that the university is looking to potentially find a new company to work on the housing lottery process, to get away from the mandatory rule of having to fill a room to get a housing assignment.
“I have an MBA counseling class that I started working with in January that is looking at our lottery process,” Ellett said. “Other schools will do group numbers not individual numbers. We see what they’ll turn in. I will share the recommendations with SGA and then SGA will make a comment and then we’ll decide whether we’re gonna go forward with one of the proposals or tweak what we have.”
Confusion also reached Facebook pages, with concerned parents looking for answers. Several shared that when their children tried to select their housing, no options were left.
However, Ellett remains optimistic.
“Anywhere from 40 to 70 people will leave between now and summer in that class so I believe there will be openings that occur,” Ellett said.
The housing crisis has now plagued Quinnipiac over multiple classes, with the now-rising junior class filling up almost the entirety of The Crescent Residence Hall on York Hill Campus, due to the rising number of admitted students every year. Ellett says this will change.
“We don’t know what this new class will be, we’re planning on it being so much smaller than this class, that’s our plan,” Ellett said. “And as of today 98 students in the entering class have asked for waivers to be off campus, cause they’re local compared to the 45 last year, same date. So, it may be that some of this is going to be worked out. My feeling is that The Village will stay as 7 people, but people knowing it in advance will alleviate some concerns.”
