The housing lottery involuntarily bumped 326 rising sophomore and juniors from the process, 150 students more than last year. Of those bumped, 201 are women and 125 are men.
p. In past years, an average of 100 to 200 students were bumped. Last year, every student who was bumped was reinstated before the beginning of the housing lottery.
p. 2002 is the only year in the College’s recent history when everyone did not get reinstated before the housing lottery. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 2001, there was a surge of students that wished to remain on campus, and over 500 students were bumped.
p. All involuntarily bumped students were invited to come to a meeting at the Little Theater in the Campus Center Monday. Katrina Pawvluk, assistant director of Residence Life, is hopeful that all rising juniors will be reinstated but is not sure about the sophomores who were bumped. Pawvluk said that reinstatement is going slowly because there are not many students willing to voluntarily bump themselves. If a student needs to remain on campus, Pawvluk said that she could find them a place to live, but they would have no say in where they would live or with whom.
p. “I’m afraid I do not have a real good answer for why the process is going so slow this year or why our demand for housing is higher this year,” she said. “The reasons a student may choose to live on campus or off vary greatly and are different for everyone.”
p. She added that it is difficult for students to find affordable housing in the area, especially with Williamsburg’s restrictions on the number of people who can live together in an off-campus property.
p. However, Pawvluk is hopeful for this year’s students. Since the housing lottery is online this year, it extends over a two-week period. Throughout that period, students will continue to be reinstated as others drop out of the lottery. She added that, over the summer, people drop out of the lottery for various reasons, including students who choose to study abroad. She said that she believed if a student is patient enough, that student will get reinstated eventually.
p. “Our priority this summer will be to get students who still wish to live on campus housing,” Pawvluk said. “Usually, this time is spent trying to find transfer students housing, but our priority this summer will be bumped students. Everyone who wants will get on-campus housing.”