Demand causes housing crunch

For years, students have joked about the name of the residence hall farthest from classes — named after Hinton James, the University’s first official student, who walked all the way to Chapel Hill from Wilmington.

But students contracted to live in Odum Village next year — an even farther walk— aren’t laughing.

This year, students felt a crunch after struggling to find housing in residence halls, forcing them either to live in Odum Village or to find alternative living situations.

An unexpected increase in demand from current residents contributed to the on-campus housing shortage, said Rick Bradley, information and communications specialist for the Department of Housing and Residential Education.

About 200 more students recontracted this year than last year, Bradley said. He speculated that the Rams Head Center, South Campus’ new mixed-use facility, might have had something to do with the jump.

“As the services increase on the southern end of the campus, I think it’s more appealing to students,” Bradley said.

Many students also decide to stay on campus because of convenience and cost considerations, he said.

The University’s commitment to guarantee housing to all incoming freshmen who meet the May 2 housing deadline also contributed to the shortage, Bradley said.

Next year, the size of the freshman class is expected to increase by about 80 students.

As a result, Bradley said, about 30 extra spots on campus are reserved for first-year students next year.

The number of freshmen requesting campus housing typically exceeds the number of spots reserved for them.

“We rely on cancellations of the students that have already recontracted and secured a space to meet the extra 350 to 400 spaces beyond what we’ve held for freshmen to meet the total freshman demand,” Bradley said.

But even with the number of incoming freshmen increasing, Bradley said he is not concerned.

Each year, University officials reserve about one-third of on-campus spaces for incoming freshmen, which amounts to about 2,500 to 2,550 spots, Bradley said.

Freshmen get about 20 percent of spots in each North Campus and Middle Campus residence hall. The remainder of the spaces needed to accommodate freshmen come from South Campus residence halls.

The renovation of Morrison Residence Hall also caused the on-campus shortage, Bradley said.

Although Cobb Residence Hall and Odum Village will open to students next year, on-campus housing still will boast almost 100 fewer spots.

Between 20 percent and 25 percent of a total incoming class typically resides at Granville Towers.

More students signed up to live in Granville next year because of the lack of on-campus housing, said Dennis Erny, general manager.

“We’re slightly ahead of last year,” he said, noting that more students are interested in Granville because they were unable to recontract in the residence halls they desired.

Bradley said he does not expect the housing crunch to be a perpetual problem because in fall 2006, the Ram Village Apartment Community will open to accommodate about 960 upper-class students. Morrison is also set to reopen in fall 2007.

When those spaces are made available, Hinton James Residence Hall will close for two years of renovation.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.