For the first time in Dartmouth's history, the College has turned away on-time applicants for on-campus housing, and there are few other housing options in Hanover.
Due to the housing shortage and grim outlook for getting pulled off the waiting list, students may now have to change their Dartmouth Plans because they will have nowhere to live in the fall.
The Office of Residential Life last week wrote to about 200 students tell them they would not receive College housing for Fall term.
"For the first time, we cannot house all students who wish to reside on-campus for a Fall term," Associate Dean of Residential Life Bud Beatty wrote in the letter. "I am saddened by the fact that we cannot be more helpful."
The mailing included a list of 44 available private rental properties, but only a dozen were in Hanover.
"There are not a lot [of rental options] left in Hanover, at least to be rented to undergraduate students," Housing Assignments Administrator Lynn Rosenblum said.
Those still scheduled to be on in the fall without housing are about equally split between the Classes of 1996 and 1997 and all seniors have been housed, ORL said.
The College can do little to house the remaining students because town zoning laws prohibit many temporary housing options, Rosenblum said.
"We did acquire from the College five apartments on West Wheelock [Street] that are normally rented to faculty," Rosenblum said. Ten students will be housed there for Fall term only.
Last year some students were housed in dormitory lounges before the Fall term began. Rosenblum said yesterday she would not rule out the option.
"There have been some D-plan changes," Rosenblum said, "I just don't know how many."
Last Monday was the deadline for changing fall D-plans without being fined $100, Associate Registrar Nancy Broadhead said.
But Broadhead said students can petition to waive the fine and that the Registrar would be flexible.
Registrar Thomas Bickel said the Fall-term housing crunch may occur because increasing numbers of students take winter off and stay on in the fall.
The percentage of students on Junior Fall, where the problem is the greatest, has increased from 43 percent of the Class of 1991 to a projected 69 percent of the Class of 1997, Bickel said.
"For the classes that have graduated, the average number of terms that they're here per student seems to be staying the same," he said.
Bickel attributes the shift to Greek rush in the fall, harsh winters and more class offerings in the fall term.
"I think this whole problem is thrown upon us because of, once again, the D-plan," Brandon del Pozo '96 said at a Student Assembly meeting.
Bickel proposed a Freshman-spring lottery to determine Junior fall housing.
