By
Cyndy Cole
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Cancellations might provide more room in dorms
With residence hall space for only 5,531 students and more than 7,700 students who applied to live in the dorms, 2,200 UA students could be looking for a place to live come August.
"We'll definitely be putting (students) up in hotels and probably using lounge space too," said Sharon Kha, spokeswoman for the UA.
Or maybe not.
The number of students who applied for on-campus housing is not necessarily the number of students who will be moving in, said Jim Van Arsdel, director of residence life and university housing.
Last year, Van Arsdel saw more than 1,000 students cancel requests for residence life housing.
"Every year at this time, almost without fail, there is a housing crunch," Van Arsdel said. "We have a lot of people who apply and decide late."
Freshmen who applied for housing by the May deadline and returning students who applied for housing by the February deadline this year are all guaranteed housing, Van Arsdel said.
However the approximately 300 students who applied after the deadline will be out of luck, Van Arsdel said.
Finding enough space for those guaranteed housing may also mean moving students in with residence assistants and in closed-off lounges, Van Arsdel said.
Another option is moving students into hotels temporarily, Van Arsdel said.
To house students at the Sheraton Four Points hotel at 1900 E. Speedway, the UA will pay $40 per room per night.
"If we have people in a hotel, we move people out of a hotel as soon as possible," Van Arsdel said. He added that the UA would assist anyone who wants help moving from a hotel to university housing.
Last fall, there was space to spare at the beginning of the year due to cancellations, construction of an additional unit to Pima Residence Hall, and residence life housing students in Skyview and Palm Shadows apartments that had added space for 650 students.
But this year there were no additional units built, Van Arsdel said.
Sophomores are returning to live in university housing this year instead of living off- campus, which has generated higher stacks of applications for residence halls, Kha said.
"This is a much bigger year than usual," Van Arsdel said. "I don't know if it's the most (incoming students) we've ever had, but it would be close to it."
For every 100 freshmen coming in, the residence life office will receive 80 applications, Van Arsdel said.
Relief is on the way, though, with the construction of three residence halls with spaces for 750 students, scheduled to start in February, Van Arsdel said. The new residence hall complex will be located northwest of Sixth Street and Highland Avenue, in place of facilities management buildings and parking lots.
"The buildings that we're building will be really neat," Van Arsdel said. "They'll be not just places to live, but places to learn." The complex will also have a park where students can study, Van Arsdel said.
The residence life office will also move from its current location at Babcock Inn to a location near the new complex.
This fall, students can move into residence halls early on August 15th, and at the standard dates between August 16th and 18th.
"I'm just as excited as hell about a new year and the hall directors and resident assistants being back," Van Arsdel said.
