With just 19 days left this semester, the 188 Saint Louis University students who are still on the waiting list for on-campus housing next year may be growing anxious. However, some progress has been made by the Department of Housing and Residence Life since the initial sign-up process.

As of April 4, six days after the last opportunity to sign up for housing, 219 students were on the waiting list for housing for the fall of 2008. Susan Fanale, associate and interim director of Housing and Residence Life, is optimistic.

“We’re very excited that, [by Friday], we’ll have gotten to almost 100 students,” she said. “So I’m very excited that before the end of April we’ve already been able to assist that many students.”

As of Wednesday, April 23, Fanale said that 85 students were removed from the waiting list and placed on campus. She expected that, by Friday, 10 to 15 more students would be told that they have housing for next year.

According to Fanale, at one point the list numbered 249. After that, the Housing and Residence Life staff decided that tracking the numbers according to how many had been assigned to housing and how many were still on the waiting list as two separate entities would be easier.

Freshman Alyssa Fox is one of the 188 students on the waiting list. She says she is growing nervous.

“I am getting very anxious,” Fox said. “I am also upset a little, though, because someone in my group already got a spot in housing … She was placed in Marguerite, and she applied for re-assignment. And she has already been placed in Marchetti East.”

Fox had planned to live with a group of friends in Lindell Towers, but they decided to try for on-campus housing after talking to a Housing and Residence Life coordinator.

“One of my group members consulted someone in Housing and Residence Life, and they assured us we would have a spot, so we chose not to look for alternative housing,” she said.?????????

Fox transferred to SLU at the beginning of this semester, so she knew she was already at a disadvantage going into the process.

Her appointment was at 6:26 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, the last day of housing sign up.

She was immediately placed toward the end of the waiting list, a factor that Fanale said has a large influence on when students will be assigned housing.

“It kept growing because people were applying late or paying late, so it has kind of been a list in flux,” Fanale said.

She also noted that she expects this year’s end result to be a repeat of last year, when the list was cleared during the month of June.

She said that the next few weeks will be crucial in determining exactly when this problem will be resolved.

Fox said she expects to know her housing situation soon, as she has been told she is now number 46 on the waiting list for on-campus housing.

No matter how quickly she may be given a spot, Fox said that she is still dissatisfied with the outcome of this year’s housing process.

“I do think this could have been prevented,” Fox said. “However, I think it is also the responsibility of [Housing and Residence Life] to make better plans for following years so as to avoid such a situation in the future.”

The issues in housing first arose last month, after students with later sign up times were told there was currently no room for them on-campus.