URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The University of Illinois is welcoming another class of thousands to campus in the coming weeks. But for some of those new students, their housing arrangements will look a little different this year.
University Housing said the number of first-year students who signed contracts for dorm rooms is larger than anticipated. As a result, there is a shortage of dorm rooms and University Housing is resorting to new methods to find places for them to live on campus, a requirement for all first-year students.
“We know this has been an unusual year for University Housing, and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience – we appreciate the patience of University Housing residents and their families,” said Mari Anne Brocker Curry, Director of Housing Information & Marketing for University Housing. “We guarantee housing for all first-year students who are required to live on campus by the student code. University Housing continues to explore all options for maximizing space available to assign students who have contracted to live with University Housing. We will continue to provide residents with updates on those options as they are available.”
Curry said returning students who do not have to live on campus are being offered an incentive to cancel their contracts: $2,000 and 100 meal tickets to the dining halls.
University Housing is changing the occupancy of rooms where square footage allows, turning single rooms into doubles to support more students. That includes rooms inhabited by residential advisors.
In an email to RAs obtained by WCIA, Herb Jones, the Director of Residential Life for University Housing, said they are now at the point that they have to give RAs roommates. In the past, RA’s typically have their own room in the dorm halls.
“We recognize the impact of having a roommate within a staff room. SRAs and RAs who are assigned a roommate will receive an additional stipend of $125 per month while the roommate lives with you,” Jones said. “RA staff members with an accommodation on file will not have a roommate.”
Jones said the incoming students who are paired with RAs will be told that their living arrangement is temporary. They will be moved to a permanent assignment when space becomes available.
“These changes will provide additional capacity to our halls and will allow us provide assignments to some students with contracts who are awaiting an assignment confirmation,” Curry said. “University Housing will continue to provide the same transformative student supporting experience we currently provide. We are making this change to support the critical first year live on experience by getting the space we need – students who live with University Housing in their first year are 122% more likely to graduate than those who do not.”
The exact numbers of incoming stunts is unavailable at this time. Curry said that information will be released after the 10th day of classes this fall.
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