For some years, the College of William and Mary has offered a select amount of complimentary summer housing for students pursuing research and internships on campus or in the Williamsburg area. Starting next summer, the College will limit the number of free beds to 100, citing rising housing costs and funding changes.
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Suzanne Raitt emphasized the rarity of similar programs across the country, and the College’s pride in being able to provide the complementary beds in years prior.
“So for a number of years, we’ve provided complimentary summer housing to undergraduates who want to stay on-campus over the summer to do research in people’s labs or to do archaeological fieldwork or any other kind of summer research experience,” Raitt said. “We’re really proud of the fact that we have been doing this, not every university does it. And I think it’s really helped us build a strong culture of undergraduate research at William and Mary.”
Raitt explained that for a long time, the program has been funded by Residence Life through additional fees paid by students during the academic year. However, the funding has become insufficient as housing costs have increased.
“As the costs of housing rose, it started to seem no longer feasible to cover the summer costs by charging students during the regular academic year,” Raitt said. “But that’s their only source of revenue. So about three years ago, Residence Life said to us, ‘We just can’t keep doing this, it’s just not sustainable for us.’”
To alleviate the financial strain, the College gradually trimmed down the number of complimentary beds at a rate of 50 per summer. Raitt explained that while supply has gone down, so too has demand, allowing the College to continue to meet students’ needs.
“So in summer 2022, we used 188 out of a potential of 250 free beds,” Raitt said. “Summer 2023, we used 159 out of a possible 200. So we were bringing the number of available beds down, but demand was going down too. And then in summer 2024, we were able to accommodate 127 students, but we had 150 beds available.”
Since Residence Life will stop funding the complimentary summer housing program after 2025, the College is currently seeking alternative funding sources, including external granting agencies and private philanthropy.
Raitt outlined her plan to launch a fundraising campaign to ensure the College can continue providing complimentary summer beds after 2025.
“Our challenge now is to figure out how we are going to fund these beds,” Raitt said. “We are committed to doing it. We’ve been looking into a number of different sources, and I have a plan, though it’s not finalized yet, which is to use a combination of philanthropic donations, and we’re just building a campaign initiative on that now.”
Another potential funding source includes departments with heavy student research participation, such as psychology, biology and chemistry. Raitt hopes that with additional funding from Arts and Sciences, the vice provost for Research and the Provost’s Office, the program will not have to be discontinued.
“So we think that with a combination of funds from those sources, we’re going to be able to continue to offer 100 beds every summer for as long as we need them, which I imagine will be for a very long time,” Raitt said. “So although the funding source is going to change, my expectation and hope is that the program itself won’t end.”
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Maggie Evans outlined the dorms that usually host students over the summer, and Residence Life’s plans to slowly move summer research housing into the newly-constructed dorms.
“In most recent years we have used Landrum, One Tribe Place, Chandler, Barrett, Lemon and Hardy — usually just one or two buildings needed per summer,” Evans wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “We have not confirmed building use yet for summer 2025. As we open new buildings we anticipate most summer programs moving to the newly constructed residence halls so we can complete needed projects in other spaces.”
Colin Wang ’27 conducted molecular ecology research over the summer within the biology department. He explained that as an out-of-state student, complimentary housing single-handedly allowed him to pursue the opportunity.
“I did get free housing in OTP for this summer, I was there for 5 weeks from June to July, and I can honestly say I probably would not have done summer research without the free housing,” Wang said. “I live out-of-state and I didn’t have a car so it was very helpful to live close to ISC on campus.”
Wang recognizes the complexity of financing the program, but hopes the College will continue providing free beds to facilitate positive learning experiences like his own.
“I understand that it’s likely expensive and difficult to arrange, but one of the great things about William and Mary so far I think has been how I can form interpersonal relationships with my professors,” Wang said. “And free summer housing was a perfect avenue to do that.”
Given that demand may exceed supply for complimentary beds, Raitt encouraged students to look into summer research and internship grants from the Charles Center and other bodies on-campus as early as possible.
“The Charles Center offers funding for summer internships, the Careers and Professional Engagement Center offers funding for summer internships and summer experiences, the Reeves Center offers scholarships for study abroad programs,” Raitt said. “So I would always say to all students, look and find out what sources of support might be available to you.”