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| Trying to stay on campus next year,
good luck |
Stephanie Marshall
Entertainment Beat
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Want to live in the
dorms next year? Good luck with that!
Here at Appalachian State University, instead of doing something
productive, like building new dorms, housing has now decided to
kick students off campus, forcing them to pay higher rent for apartments
in the town of Boone.
If you are confused and have no idea what I’m talking about,
then you are a little behind in Appalachian news; let me enlighten
you.
The Appalachian Department of Housing and Residence Life has ordained
that only 2,400 incoming freshmen, 1,750 sophomores, 700 juniors
and seniors and no transfers will be allowed in the dorms next year.
You should have received a letter in your mailbox referring to this
housing issue.
The envelope would have enclosed a personal letter from the assistant
director of housing and residence life and a lime green calendar
of the meetings that will be held to inform you on the process of
obtaining on-campus housing.
The letter basically informed all Appalachian students that if you
are a senior or junior there is not a high chance you will be living
on campus next year; if you are a sophomore, the chances are more
likely, but not everyone will be allowed to live on campus and if
you are an incoming freshman, you have nothing to worry about.
Now, I understand that there are not enough dorms for the constantly
growing population of the university, but my question is how fair
is it to kick off the students, forcing them to pay for an apartment
they or their parents may not be able to afford?
It’s understandable that only 700 of the juniors and seniors
will be getting on-campus housing.
Most students that age are already planning to live in the specialized
dorms or apartments near campus.
This is the usual process for upperclassmen, and most of them do
not want to be stuck in dorms with freshman and sophomores anyway.
What I do not understand is that there are around 2,400 soon-to-be
sophomores (now freshmen), and only 1,750 of them will be getting
places in dorms next year. Where are the rest of the sophomores
supposed to live? Obviously, they or their parents will be competing
with the juniors and seniors for apartments in Boone.
Personally, I feel, as a rising sophomore, that we all should have
the choice of living on campus. We may not be freshmen in college
anymore, but it is only our second year in college. I believe that
many sophomores are not ready to live off campus when it comes down
to it.
There is still the larger issue of transfers, who, no matter what
the circumstances are, will not be able to live on campus, even
if they want to room with someone who already goes to Appalachian.
How fair is that?
What if the transfers, because of financial reasons, cannot transfer
because Appalachian refuses to allow them to live on campus?
Not everyone can afford an apartment, and because of this fact many
may not come to Appalachian, holding the university back from growing.
I know that dorms do not just grow out of the ground, but I feel
this problem should have been foreseen.
Housing needs to get on the ball with making some changes with the
on-campus living issue. It is not fair they can just tell students
they have to live somewhere else rather than on campus. I feel it
is the university’s job to provide housing to any student who
wants it. |
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