Living on North Campus is about to get a lot harder for incoming freshmen thanks to changes in UNC’s housing assignment policy, which are designed to attract more upperclassmen to on-campus living and enhance the freshman experience. But, in effect, these changes have only injected additional confusion into the housing process and hold little promise of addressing many of the key reasons students move off campus.
Starting next year, the Department of Housing and Residential Education will make nearly all rooms on North Campus, excluding Granville Towers, available to sophomores and upperclassmen during the first-rounds of room reservations. While this will not stop freshmen from living on North Campus, it will likely force between 200 and 250 freshmen into South Campus residence halls.
Since housing has 400 empty beds that it is currently unable to fill, the department is looking for ways to make living on campus more attractive to upperclassmen. Their answer: kick freshmen down south.
Incoming students wishing to live on North Campus will likely need to be in the honors program, which reserves 50 North Campus spaces for its students each year. Otherwise, freshmen will have to be willing to live in one of the North Campus Living Learning Communities to secure a non-South Campus assignment.
This change will hopefully help the housing department fill many of the 264 vacancies it currently has on South Campus. This large vacancy comes despite a recent change making on-campus living compulsory for all freshmen.
Currently, up to 20 percent of North Campus rooms are held for incoming freshmen students. But survey data collected before Thanksgiving break suggests that many students leave for off-campus housing because of a lack of available rooms on North Campus.
While North Campus is likely a more attractive location for many upperclassmen, it is unclear if this change will be enough to woo them to stay on campus, particularly given the amenities offered off campus like personal kitchens, laundry machines and parking.
While these changes would likely have caused little controversy, a botched announcement on the housing website has caused widespread student concern that South Campus will become exclusive to freshmen. Housing will need to do a better job educating students on these changes before registration time.
Otherwise, the department may run the risk of having even more vacancies in years to come.
