Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Housing Selection Moved to Spring

ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors will all select housing in the spring, pushing the process several months forward.
ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors will all select housing in the spring, pushing the process several months forward.

The housing selection process for rising juniors and seniors will move from early fall semester to the spring, a change designed to reduce roommate conflicts and requests to change housing.

Housing eligibility will still be determined in October, and the points allocated to sophomores, juniors and seniors will remain the same, as will the housing selection process for rising sophomores in the spring. The exact dates for the spring selection have not yet been determined.

Housing points, which have been used only to determine eligibility, will now be used to determine selection times, with the intent of giving upperclassmen better housing options.

Sophomores receive two points, and juniors and seniors who did not live on campus the previous year receive four points, while seniors who did live on campus get three points.

The October housing selection date previously applied to both returning students and transfer students, who had to figure out who to live with and where less than two months after arriving on the Hilltop. Students and administrators hope that the delayed selection date will help students by allowing them to choose living situations at a date closer to the beginning of that year.

Executive Director of Residential Services Patrick Killilee said feedback from students and residential living staff led to the decision to reevaluate the housing selection process. Since last spring, representatives of the Georgetown University Student Association and Georgetown University InterHall have been involved in the evaluation process.

“In surveying students over the past few years, we have asked students if they would prefer a spring selection or retain [the] fall process,” Killilee wrote in an email. “A majority of students have indicated they would prefer a spring selection process, [while] less students were interested in retaining the current model.”

While the administration has engaged students in changing the selection process, InterHall President Nicholas Adams (SFS ’14) highlighted suggestions that have not yet been implemented, including moving up eligibility determination from October, the ability to select housing in tandem with other groups and re-allocating points.

Rising seniors who study abroad during the spring semester of their junior year receive three points for housing, while those who study abroad in the fall semester receive four points.

“We feel that no discrepancy should exist and instead should be equalized,” Adams wrote in an email.

The changes allow students to determine whether they are eligible for campus housing in October, leaving time to also seek off-campus housing, though most students intending to live off campus sign leases by late September.

“We have advocated for moving the eligibility decision to an even earlier date so that students who are not awarded eligibility have more time to find off-campus housing and roommates with whom to live,” Adams wrote.

Megan Murday (SFS ’15), a member of the GUSA Campus Living Advisory Committee, has participated in the discussions about changes to the housing selection system.

“When we were talking about moving the process, we were focusing on the benefits with regard to students,” Murday said. “We decided that having housing selection in the spring would allow sophomores and transfers … more time to make the decision for the following year of housing as to whether or not they want to live with that person.”

Murday suggested that in addition to giving students more time to make a decision, the changes could result in fewer conflicts between roommates and requests to change housing. Adams suggested that the changes will also help students make other decisions regarding study abroad, resident assistant positions or the decision to transfer.

Chris Rom (COL ’16) agreed with the decision to move housing selection.

“Housing arrangements are volatile,” Rom said. “The less time between deciding where to live and moving in, the better. If someone decides to study abroad or take up an internship — those are decisions that could be made in the winter [with the spring selection time] but not with choosing in the fall. But now these are the sort of changes that can be accommodated or planned for.”

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