News
Students denied housing
The Pointer
jlutz715@uwsp.edu
The University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point is denying residence hall rooms for students. With Hyer under construction, the campus now has fewer rooms for students forcing them to find other housing.
The following message can be found on the Residential Living home page, “Due to unprecedented requests, Residential Living is unable to provide housing for individuals who graduated from high school more than two years ago and/or will be 21 prior to the start of the fall semester and who apply on or after June 1, 2009. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
But for those students turned down there may be no more options.
Joe Totman, director of Residential Living, claimed, “We have turned away contracts for some students that are 21 years or older that applied with us after June 1 and who are eligible to live off campus.”
“We made the decision that anyone who didn’t have to live on campus we’d return their application if they had applied after June 1 with the idea that they have an option. But if a freshman applies, which we had several after the first of June, they really don’t have a choice,” said Bob Tomlinson, vice chancellor of student affairs.
Totman also addresses Residential Living putting students in hotels such as Point Motel. “We have done that in the past, but that is not the case this year. That is merely a rumor.”
Tomlinson talked about a veteran who is returning to school and needed somewhere to live. A joint effort was put forth by the university, city and local Reserve Officers’ Training Corps division to find him a place to live.
For some students though there was a tight scramble to find housing. Many students planning on living in the residence halls and finding out that they have no place to stay has caused issues.
UWSP transfer student Anthony Basile, 20, went through just that. Basile applied for on-campus housing in late June. He was told his deposit would guarantee him a place to live. About a week or two before classes began, he received a letter stating he no longer had a room to live in and could request his deposit to be refunded, said Basile.
Basile said, Luckily, he has a friend he could stay with for a while, until he met someone on Facebook who needed a roommate. “I ended up getting a house with a person that I’ve known for like maybe a week or so now.”
Basile said this made him upset, because he did not want to bring a lot of stuff with him and wanted to have a meal plan to eat with.
“The main thing I was looking at is being a better social situation because if I was in the dorms then I would have a better chance of making my own friends,” said Basile. He said he would join some student organizations to meet people.
But Totman assured that the numbers were very low and also stated, “We continue to provide housing for all traditional students that would be required to live on campus based on the UW Board of Regents policy.
