Many students are angry with Temple University after they did not receive housing for next year. There has been a trend of housing shortages over the past several years since the undergraduate ranks began to swell.
“Housing is garbage,” said one rising senior, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Temple needs to either build more dorms stop taking in so many freshman.”
The University’s housing selection lottery, which assigns random numbers to rising sophomores, juniors and seniors, took place between April 4 and April 18.
Many students were left without a housing assignment after the rooms designated for each class quickly filled up.
Each class had a certain number of rooms available to it, based on the size of the class.
Incoming freshmen will receive their assignments over the summer.
Stephanie Young, a rising junior, did not receive housing for the upcoming academic year.
“I got kicked out of housing,” she said.
“I live a hour away, and now, it is going to be a lot harder for me to come to school. We [upperclassmen] are already here, we are the ones who are going to graduate soon, therefore, we should have first priority,” said Young.
Rising junior Jacquin Walker agreed with Young and said that it was wrong for the University to force upperclassmen out of dorms.
“I understand freshman need housing, but it is not right to kick students out who have already been there,” he said.
“It is harder for us who are upperclassmen because we have the harder and more stressful classes to study for. ”
Rising senior Andrea Patterson said that instead of making plans for a Gap, a movie theatre and an entertainment center, which the University has suggested as possible additions to the main campus, it should focus on building more dormitories.
One rising senior, who also asked not to be identified, said he did have more of an understanding of the housing dilemma.
“The lottery is good, and there is really no better way to do it,” he said.
“There are too many people, not enough spots, and you can’t please everybody.”
Although housing officials have said the University is not currently planning on building any new dorms, they been attempting to help students who did not receive housing.
An off-campus apartment fair was held on April 11, and another will take place on April 28.
Inside the housing resource center on the second floor of 1910 Liacouras Walk, there are a number of flyers and bulletins containing info on apartments available for rent.
The University housing website, (ITALICS)www.temple.edu/housing(ITALICS), contains a link to off campus housing where students can find apartments available for rent and other students looking for roommates.
Coordinator of Off-Campus Diane Zelinski said, “We are doing our best to help students find housing.”
Zelinski said that they are aware of the complaints and they do realize there is a problem with housing, but “it just a very difficult situation.”
Students had their own suggestions towards solving the housing problem.
“Temple needs to buy of some property and build more dormitories,” said rising junior Nate Ford.
“There is so much unused property around, they should just buy it up and build more dorms.”
Patterson said that the University should only allow out-of-state students to apply for housing.
She said that “it is not fair” for students who live near the University to get housing while those who are out-of-state or international students may not get a room.
Jonathan Vann can be reached at jvann@temple.edu.
Rental websites
Apartments.com: https://www.apartments.com
Apartments.net: https://apartments.net
Apartment Guide: https://www.apartmentguide.com
Apartment Solutions: https://apartmentsolutions.com
Easy Roommate: https://easyroommate.com
Philadelphia City Paper: https://citypaper.net/classifieds.shtml
Courtesy Temple University Housing Website
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