Juniors face on-campus housing shortage, new apartments open in 2011

Nearly 200 students are waiting in hopes of receiving an on-campus apartment next year. Many of those students won't get what they want.

The Murphy Apartments and Logan Court Townhouses have 354 assigned spaces and a waitlist of 196 students. Housing expects this number to increase as students from off campus begin to apply for on-campus housing.

"There's just not enough bed space for every junior and senior who wants it," said Tim Albert, assistant director of Housing and Residence Life. "That's the main issue here."

According to Albert, Seattle University only has enough on-campus housing units to accommodate 42 percent of its undergraduate student body.

"Obviously that is not enough," he said.

Last year, there were at least 230 students on the waitlist for the 354 spaces in the Murphy and 
Logan complexes. Albert said spots in the Murphys seemed to fill up faster than usual because of a new registration system. This year, Housing and Residence Life shortened the length between appointment times, making registration span 
three days.

In previous years, Housing and Residence Life was able to put upperclassmen in the residence halls, but not anymore, 
Albert said.

Now, just fitting the freshmen and sophomores into those spaces is a challenge and calls for an increase of transitional triples and improvised quads.

Last year, Housing and Residence Life used 11 lounges as quads and had six requests for transitional triples.

As of now, Housing does not know how many lounges and triples will be used for the upcoming year but anticipates every lounge will be used to 
house students.

Albert said he expects some students who have been assigned on-campus housing will change their minds and live off campus. Often, he said, students only sign up for a Murphy apartment as 
a backup.

Students have already started dropping out of the Murphy Apartments and spots are beginning to fill with people who are on the 
waiting list, according 
to Albert.

"I don't know when or how many students will drop their on-campus spots," Albert said. "But hopefully everyone on the list will be offered something, and usually that will happen."

HRL has been considering other options for student housing in an attempt to accommodate this growing need. Officials have looked into renting apartment buildings and have talked to building owners, but nothing has 
been finalized.

"Our goal is to increase housing availability, but there is only so much land to build on and only so much money," 
Albert says.

One thing HRL does have in the works, however, is The Douglas, a student residence in construction on 12th Avenue and East Cherry Street. Construction has just begun on 
the complex.

Michael Kerns, associate vice president of Facilities, said The Douglas will accommodate more juniors and seniors.

"We began the 12th and Cherry complex to meet a growing demand and overall need to provide more housing opportunities for upperclassmen," 
Kerns said.

The 12th and Cherry residence hall is scheduled to open fall quarter 2011. It will be a five-story building with 259 total beds and 81 total units, the bulk of which will be four 
bedroom suites.

It won't be as big as the Murphys, but Albert expects it will be more popular. The complex will feature ground-level retail shops, a rain garden and 
a courtyard.

But with The Douglas a year down the road and housing still an immediate concern for the majority of the class of 2012, many incoming juniors have been forced to look 
off-campus.

One resource for finding off-campus housing is Housing and Residence Life's website. It provides students with listings of available apartments, alternative search links, tenant laws and other 
helpful tips.

Janie Sacco, an office assistant for Housing and Residence Life, says the website gets a decent amount of traffic, and they strive to make it easy to access and easy to use.

"We check the listings to make sure there's nothing sketchy about it," Sacco said. "If students can't find what they need online, they're always welcome to stop by the office, and we'll do what we can 
to help."

Molly may be reached at mcgillm@seattleu.edu