When sophomore Erin Vallosio and three of her friends went to their housing appointment, she had hoped to sign up for a quad in the Student Village.
After living in DeMattias Hall, she was looking forward to moving into the apartments that had been traditionally inhabited largely by upperclassmen. What she encountered, however, was disappointment.
“It was the last day of housing appointments, and all that was left was the Flats and some singles in The Village,” Vallosio said. “We decided to move off campus instead.”
Vallosio’s story is not the only one of its kind. In the wake of the recent housing assignment process, a number of upperclassmen are upset over the situation in which they find themselves.
This year, Saint Louis University adopted a new policy. It is now mandatory for all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus. Dean of Students Scott Smith stated in a March 31 Student Government Association Housing Committee meeting that this is because studies have shown that students who live on campus for their first two years of college are more likely to stay at the school for all four years.
Keeping sophomores on campus will help to boost SLU’s retention rates. Because they will be required to stay on campus next year, current freshmen were given first pick of housing over sophomores and juniors.
As a result, there is a significant increase in the number of sophomores living in the on-campus housing that has been traditionally inhabited by upperclassmen, including The Village and Marchetti Towers. Meanwhile, during housing sign ups, students were told they would lose their housing scholarships if they lived in the Flats, though a temporary solution has since been reached for that (see the article “New system guaranteed on-campus housing for underclassmen only”).
“I know freshmen and sophomores need to live on campus,” sophomore Molly Gould said. “But they shouldn’t get first priority. It’s not fair.”
Gould’s housing situation is very similar to Vallosio’s. She, too, along with three friends, attended her housing appointment only to find that there was nothing left but the Flats.
“So we’re moving off campus,” Gould said, since according to then-current policies, she would’ve lost her housing scholarship anyway.
Since then, Gould said that if she had known that the University and the Flats management had fixed the problem with the housing scholarship transfer, she would never have moved off campus.
In addition, though school runs for 10 months of the year, students are required to take out a 12-month lease in order to live in the Flats, therefore paying for two months that some may not need.
“I think that the upperclassmen weren’t as informed as they should have been,” senior Mike Putnam said. “There wasn’t enough transparency.”
Putnam is the creator of a Facebook group detailing the missteps of the administration in regards to the housing process; he is one of 400+ members who seemed to feel that the route taken by Housing and Res. Life was faulty.
“[Housing and Res. Life] is telling the upperclassmen that they will be accommodated for,” Putnam said. “But they weren’t.”
Other upperclassmen feel the same. Senior Megan Lovato, a former member of SGA, said she’s been aware of the problems in housing for some time and is surprised Housing and Res. Life has not done more to ensure that the process would go smoothly.
“I just didn’t want to mess with housing this time,” Lovato said. “I’m just moving home next semester.”
Other students thought that communication between Housing and Res. Life and the student body could have been better.
“I wish I had known more going into it about the changes they made,” Vallosio said. “I wish they had been more open with the facts.”
SGA Housing and Res. Affairs Chair David T. Black agreed that communication about the housing process could have been better.
“Communication was big. We didn’t have enough space for what we wanted to do. And that the scholarship didn’t apply in the Flats could have been better communicated.”
