Friday, October 2, 1998
Overcrowding result of high demand for more housing
HOUSING: Officials resort
to creating more triples, converting study lounges
By Frank Montana
With over 2,400 returning residents already signed up to live on
campus for fall 1998, this summer the UCLA Housing Assignment
Office faced the unenviable task of trying to accommodate the 4,387
freshmen who applied for housing. With only 3,338 spaces available
after room sign-ups were held last spring for current residents,
very few options were available.
The challenge was to create additional spaces quickly in order
to make assignment offers to all the freshmen applicants who
applied by the May 1 deadline and were, therefore, guaranteed
on-campus housing. By early May, there was an indication that the
number of housing applications received from new freshmen was going
to surpass the number received in 1997. Eventually, this resulted
in an increase of over 12.5 percent, or 487 housing applications.
With a projected shortfall of over 400 spaces, the residence hall
student government was asked for their input. The two choices were
either to create more triple spaces or house students in residence
hall floor lounges. The hall government representatives recommended
creating more triples.
With the endorsement from student leaders, the housing
department was fortunate to locate two furniture suppliers who
could provide the additional furniture required to make the room
conversions. It seems this unexpected increase in new freshmen was
not only a regional but national trend, and furniture was in demand
from other schools such as UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, Oregon State,
University of Maryland, Texas A&M, University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, and Rutgers, to name a few.
An order was placed for 480 sets of furniture consisting of a
loft bed, desk, chair, portable wardrobe closet and a pull-out
drawer unit. The delivery date was set for Sept. 21, five days
before the scheduled opening of the residence halls. Extra
furniture was ordered to accommodate higher numbers if early
projections fell short.
In all, 414 double rooms were designated to become triples,
spread throughout the residence halls, residential suites and
Sunset Village. This resulted in 53 percent of the on-campus
housing spaces becoming triple accommodations. When assignments
were made, over 70 percent of the freshmen were assigned to some
type of triple accommodation, an assignment manager’s nightmare.
Over 3,000 telephone calls were made to the assignment office the
first two days after freshmen housing assignments were mailed.
To make matters worse, it was determined in early September that
the number of additional triple spaces created was not going to
meet the demand of another housing assignment challenge. The
Housing Assignment Review Board had approved an unusually high
number of over 60 students who had appealed the cancellation of
their original housing assignment. In the past, housing
cancellations received from students throughout the summer would
normally be used to assign the handful of students who usually
would be approved through the appeal process. At this point, very
few additional triples could be created, and those that were
resulted in some students having their assignment changed from a
double to a triple room only days before their scheduled
arrival.
Finally, with no other options available to accommodate the
remaining students on the wait list, 12 floor lounges had to be set
up as sleeping rooms, each accommodating up to six students for a
total of 72 spaces. Although only a temporary alternative, all the
lounges had the same features and furniture as any other residence
hall room, including lockable doors, computer hook ups, basic
telephone service and a complimentary microfridge unit to make
their temporary stay a little more comfortable.
It is our goal to move students from the floor lounges to
permanent room assignments as space becomes available throughout
the quarter. Some students, however, may remain in a lounge for the
entire fall quarter.
There were times during the last few months when I really didn’t
know how or when we were going to meet the university’s guarantee
to house all new eligible students. I was confident though, after
facing similar challenges in the past, that the housing staff would
be able to pool its resources, talents and creativity to make it
all come together.Montana is the manager of the Housing Assignment
Office.
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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board