Room draw leaves some students with options they find “un-livable”

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Author: Haley Gray

With an increased number of seniors living on campus and a growing student body, several students left room draw this year without a room for next semester.

I had room draw number 478, and was told that worst case there were always singles in Stearns left over … When they got to my number, all that was left was forced triples in [Bell-Young Hall] with random other students. At that point I just left, because that is just not a livable situation for me, so I didn’t end up getting a room,” philosophy major Tyler Ollanik (sophomore) said.

Several students encountered this same problem with limited housing options. Sophomore Erica Bendaw planned on living in a double, but after all of the doubles were taken her only option was to take a forced triple with someone she did not know or no room at all. She chose the later.

“I filled out the [room improvement] form and emailed Chad Meyers explaining the situation, but they haven’t contacted me back,” Bendaw said.

Associate Director for Residential Education Juls White declined to specify exactly how many students were not assigned a room.

“It is important to remember that Room Draw is a process, not just one day in time. As we work through the summer and find out who will be here and who won’t we have a greater ability to assign all students a space,” White said.

The college set a target number of beds for students on campus at 1,657, a number which is affected by the amount of seniors who choose to live off campus and the number of juniors the college allows to live off. According to White, more seniors have elected to live on campus in recent years.

The number of admitted students who decide to attend Occidental further complicates the process.

A few years ago there was a very good yield in the admitted class. This led to the need to shuffle students and rooms around. Admissions works very hard at hitting the yield target, but it is more of an art than a science,” White said.

White is confident that all students who wish to live on campus will be able to.
In our time here, every student who has wanted a room has received one. It may not be the room of their choice, but no one is left homeless,” White said.

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