House of Cards: SU Housing Updates

While the student body is often outspoken in its issues with campus housing, a sit down with the Director of Housing Tracey Abrahams was able to shed light on why many students are having the issues that they are.
“My desired professional purpose was doing my part to help the next generation of future Jags,” said Tracey Abrahams.
Res-Life’s main goal is to accommodate the freshman students who live on campus and give the upperclassmen an opportunity to transition to living off-campus until they can get more housing on campus.
The structure for students living on campus has been constant in recent years, with the overall number of beds remaining the same in large part. Similarly, there are facilities/units for every classification, though four facilities are usually reserved for freshmen, while upperclassmen have the University Apartments and Boley Hall as their primary housing centers.
Every year Res-Life partners up with campus apartments, with the Cadence being the most active partner with student housing. At the very beginning of this spring semester, there were some complications for students to move back into their rooms due to their tuition fees not being paid in full or at least enrolled in a payment plan.
For students who weren’t able to get a room, there wasn’t any temporary housing available. “Temporary housing was never provided to students outside of the Cadence, the only alternative where students can use their financial aid to cover their housing,” according to Abrahams.
Ms. Abraham gave an estimate of twenty-two hundred students who are able to live with residential life based on the number of beds (2,020), currently at their disposal.
Gavin, a junior computer science major, voiced his opinion about upperclassmen staying off campus. “It’s the matter of not everyone having the money to stay off campus nor do all of us have cars so how would we get to class on time?.”
However, another student feels differently. “I don’t find it reasonable in that aspect… because of low housing. If they can’t afford it then they just can’t afford it. But I do find it reasonable in the fact that they are upperclassmen and I feel like they would need their own space,” said Ahmaya Ellis, a junior therapeutic rehabilitation major.
Gavin also agreed to housing for students on campus. “ We need more housing buildings. The ones we have now need to be updated and taken care of better than they are…Not having hot water, sometimes the water has an odor, and insects being in the rooms as soon as we move in.”
Abraham mentioned a plan for new facilities with the world-shaking back from pandemics and enrollment continually increasing; However, they have not yet come to vision, and revisions are being made.
Abraham was asked if she thinks students will have this problem again in the next upcoming school year. She strongly feels freshmen can have a grace period to pay their fees before move-in day, however, upperclassmen should be responsible enough to have their fees paid. In addition, she feels that upperclassmen are adults and should know how the process goes with making sure fees are paid prior to move-in day and getting the financial assistance needed ahead of time.
Unfortunately, the housing department is always seen as not doing its part or not being fair to students. They communicate with students in advance of the school year via email, with all students who have put in an application to live on campus with a given notice to what their status is with their room assignments and fees.
If a student is unable to pay their fees, it is the student’s responsibility to communicate that with an employee from Res-Life or Abraham. Res-Life also encourages students to be on the lookout for updates for the next upcoming school year to defeat any confusion that transpired this spring.
To encourage students to be productive in their housing assignments, the department has put out early housing applications for the 2023-24 school year, which is open from February 1st through May 15th. It is on a “first come, first served” basis as there are limited spaces, with the majority of the space reserved for first-time freshmen.