By Nicole Ferrito
It’s that day in the spring semester every TCNJ college undergrad has been waiting for, dreading and stressing over: the day housing time slots are assigned. All day students hover over their laptops eagerly awaiting a time slot, and filled with anxiety. For the freshman and sophomore class, this stress lies with whether or not they will be living in their top choice for housing. However, for juniors and seniors it’s a matter of receiving a time slot or scrambling to find another place to live off-campus.
Fortunately, last year all undergraduate students were granted a time slot, but this semester was a different story. Many rising juniors and seniors were disappointed and angered to find out they did not receive a time slot. Roommate plans were thrown off, when students found out their friends did not receive housing. It soon becomes a challenge to reorganize who is living where.
Some of the students, who did not receive a time slot, stay positive and remain on The College’s wait list for housing. There are students who applied for housing last semester and decided last minute to live off-campus and will cancel their housing applications, opening spots for those who wish to live on-campus.
Monica Donohue, a rising junior, is one student who did not receive a housing in the lottery. She said, “I’d rather live with somebody random on campus, than live off campus because I don’t have a car and I am going to have two jobs on campus next year. Why don’t they have people who live farther away at the bottom of the list for housing?”
Luckily, Monica recently found out she was assigned a time slot after being placed on the wait list. Others, in a similar situation to Monica, were happy to learn they have also received time slots after anxiously waiting. However, the students found out this good news just days before they are to choose their rooms for next year. Students in this position may end up rooming with people they do not know.
While students’ fortune turned around in the week prior to choosing housing, there are still those who will not be living on-campus, but had planned to earlier in the year.
A rising junior, Jack Jamieson, is one of the students who remained on the wait list, but did not receive a time slot. He wished to live on-campus because of its convenience. He will now be searching for a house to live in off campus with friends.
Though time slots are set and students that received one are guaranteed on-campus living, they are not guaranteed that they will get to live with their friends. While many times previously organized housing arrangements turn out successful, there are plenty of instances that result in a change of plans. In the end, most are content with their housing choices; it is now all a matter of virtually clicking on which room in which housing complex a student wants and pulling in desired housemates.