More than 6,000 students have moved into University Housing residence halls for the fall semester, but 250 of them have been placed in temporary housing, according to WCIA.
Temporary housing consists of converted residence hall lounges where four to six students share a space outfitted with the same furniture as a typical dorm room, including beds, desks and dressers. Students placed in temporary rooms are paying a reduced rate until they are reassigned, University Housing told WCIA.
“Temporary housing means students are paying half what they would normally pay,” said University Housing’s Associate Director of Communications and Marketing, Chris Axtman-Barker to WCIA. “There are more students in those rooms because they are temporarily converted study lounges.”
Housing officials told WCIA they will begin reassessing placements after the 10th day of classes, once they confirm enrollment numbers and determine how many permanent spaces are available.
“We do a count, we make sure everyone shows up who was meant to show up, and normally we have some number of students who do not, for whatever reason,” Axtman-Barker told WCIA. “Then we can start moving folks from temporary housing into those units that we have now confirmed are empty.”
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In an earlier interview with The Daily Illini, Axtman-Barker said Housing has faced pressure in recent years due to high demand and the requirement to guarantee space for all first-year students.
“Staff have been working really hard to get everyone’s assignments done as quickly as possible, especially for those who met our initial priority deadline, where we initially had many more students than we expected to be able to meet that priority deadline,” Axtman-Barker said.
WCIA also reported that University Housing is working on a long-term plan to address future shortages, including constructing a new residence hall.
“We don’t currently have enough space to house everyone who wants to come back to University Housing,” Axtman-Barker told The DI. “And we want to be able to have enough space for everyone who wants to live with University Housing to be able to. That’s why we’re looking at building a new residence hall.”
University Housing did not yet respond to a request for comment on this semester’s temporary placements on Thursday.
UPDATE — August 21, 12:30 p.m.
In an email to The DI, Axtman-Barker clarified that temporary housing spaces hold two to six students per room, depending on the size of the lounge, and include the same furniture as permanent rooms, including lockable closets. He added that University Housing expects to begin relocating some students soon after the 10th day count, around mid-September.
Axtman-Barker also said many students expressed their desire to stay in temporary housing even when other spaces open. Last year, the re-sign rate among temporary housing students was 13% higher than the overall population.
