Room selection process causes controversy

This year, the housing selection process for Point Park University students began on April 7, however unlike other years, this year seemed to cause more concern among the freshmen and more inconvenience.

On average, 52 percent of students stay on campus. This year, the number jumped to 60 percent with 460 students turning in a contract.

All returning students received an e-mail from Campus Life that students wishing to live on campus in the fall needed to turn in their housing contracts. After March 20, the deadline to turn them in, the contracts were reviewed and put into a credit-earned database. Based on credits earned, students were put into a lottery to determine the time assigned.

"Anyone with 90 credits and above picked on the first day, 60-89 on the second day, 30-59 on the third day and 29 and below on the last day," John Mayo, community director in the office of Campus Life, said.

In an attempt to make the transition from living at home to college easier, Lawrence and Thayer Halls were going to be designated for freshmen only.

"I had heard that they were trying to make it so that only freshmen could live in Lawrence and Thayer," Ash Stegman, a sophomore sport, arts and entertainment management major, said.

However, there were 416 students eligible to select a room and the apartments, Conestoga and Pioneer only have 350 available beds.

"We knew that there would have to be some students living in Lawrence. Floors 20, 19 and 18 would be used if need be," Mayo said.

There are a total of 55 students living in Lawrence next year. Of the 55, there are seven students with 90 credits and above and ten with 60-89 credits; the remaining are freshmen.

Many of the freshmen that were to choose on the last day of room selection became upset when they walked into the Pioneer basement only to find that they could not room with their friends.

Rachel Nunes, a print journalism major, was one of those freshmen. However, she grasped the situation and began getting her message out.

"When I walked into Pioneer, it was a free-for-all. When I got called there were only two single spots available in Conestoga. I ended up rooming with girls I did not know instead of who I wanted to. I thought the point of having a group of people you wanted to room with was to be rational and easier," Nunes said.

"When I was walking out, I was talking to a few others who had the same problem and said 'We should start a Facebook group to see what we can do next and to get feedback,'" Nunes said.

The group caught the attention of the Residents Hall Association (RHA). The RHA was started this year to help take away rooming and residence hall issues from USG. Mayo, the adviser of RHA, and the group spoke to Nunes about the present problems and is taking into consideration what the group has to say. Nunes is to form a proposal and send it to Campus Life.

One of the main issues discussed in the Facebook group, "PPU Students For Organizing Room Selection," was the fact that many of the rooms available for selection already had one student in the suites. Groups that had already chosen roommates were forced to split because Campus Life refused to move that one person into another suite that had one space left.

"Is it fair to move one student, who chose that room, to accommodate four," Mayo said. "Some students do not care where they room and just fill in open spaces."

One possible solution is changing the room selection process online. It would essentially be just like scheduling online. Each student would be assigned a time and date to when they can log into the system based on credits earned. Once online, students can look at the floor plans of each building to determine what is available. Students will still be able to pull in roommates. Anyone being pulled will include their name and ID number.

"There are a lot of questions before we do it, such as costs and venders. Hopefully we will be able to go through with it," Mayo said.

In the meantime, any student who wishes to voice any concern or questions about housing can speak to John Mayo in Campus Life or e-mail the RHA at rha@pointpark.edu or Campus Life at campuslife@pointpark.edu

"We are here for the students. It is much easier on us to talk to the student who we are in contact with rather than a parent," Mayo said.