Students who were forced to live off campus or in temporary housing Fall term may be able to secure on-campus housing in residence halls during the winter. The College anticipates that Winter term enrollment will be down 218 students from Fall term. As of last Wednesday, there were 131 fewer students living in residence halls.
Director of Housing Rachael Clas s-Giguere said this situation is not uncommon during Winter term, as the fall and spring are traditionally marked by higher enrollment. This has allowed for some flexibility in terms of housing and has also removed the necessity for a housing waitlist that typically exists before Fall term.
All students who remained on the waitlist this fall were given on-campus housing, although some removed themselves from the list before the term started, opting to live off campus instead. All students who applied for winter housing did get spaces in residence halls.
Contrary to campus rumor, the number of members of the Class of 2006 on campus has not fluctuated a great deal from fall to winter -- 594 juniors were taking classes at Dartmouth during the fall, while 590 are expected to be on campus this winter. Members of the Class of 2007, however, overwhelmingly preferred to leave campus Winter term. In the fall, there were 147 more sophomore s studying in Hanover than there are now.
As of last Wednesday, there were 118 vacancies in residence halls, primarily single spaces in doubles and triples. A list of openings will be posted on the Office of Residential Life BlitzMail bulletin Jan. 11, and after students notify ORL of their preferences, assignments will be made based on priority numbers.
Despite the usual abundance of vacancies at the beginning of winter term, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said that "there will be no more empty beds in a Winter term than there usually are," even after the dorms to be built in the David T. McLaughlin cluster are completed.
Redman said that upon completion of the new residence halls, the College will begin "renovation that will result in loss of beds, and through that program, there will be buildings that will be closed for an entire year -- those students need somewhere to sleep."
Some students who would otherwise be living on the fringes of campus have chosen to take advantage of the Winter-term vacancies. Andrew Groundwater '07 recently moved into a three-room double in Lord Hall.
"I have my own room, and that's pretty hard to do when you're a sophomore," Groundwater said.
