Leslie Hitchcock, Staff Writer

Next year, a cap on the number of available rooms will eliminate 200 residence hall spaces for returning Appalachian State University students, said Director of Housing Brad Reid.

The 1997-98 influx of freshmen and the requirement that freshmen reside on campus prompted  this response, said Reid.

“Since freshmen are required to live on campus, we need to have enough bed space for them,” Reid said.

Last year, the Department of Housing allowed 2,872 returning students to reclaim  residence hall housing and gave remaining beds to 2,147 freshmen, said Reid.

“This gave us 5,019 students with on-campus housing and 4,884 available spaces,” Reid said.  “This problem forced us to put too many students in temporary housing.”

The system that has been used to determine which students can receive housing will remain in effect, said Reid.

Appalachian Heights, Newland and Winkler Halls will be filled first, based primarily on reclaiming rights, Reid said. Unclaimed rooms within these halls not will go into a lottery.

Students living in other residence halls who wish to reclaim the same room have first preference within those halls, Reid said.

The difference lies with students who wish to change residence halls or rooms. These students will be given priority based on a random selection of the last digit of social security numbers, said Reid.

This random selection will be used to determine when students are allowed to sign up for their preference.

“We feel the best thing for us to do is to accept the first 2,680 returning students who apply by the published deadline, pay the nonrefundable $250 deposit, select a room and have a roommate,” Reid said.

After accepting the allotted number of requests, residence hall space will be set aside for the projected number of incoming freshmen.

Returning students who apply late will be put on a waiting list, Reid said.

Reid said 60 overflow spaces have been created, should an overflow situation arise.
 

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