Santa Clara's housing crunch

By Sarah Yokubaitis

Admitted and current students are facing a housing shortage, pushing sophomores off campus and leaving officials scrambling to find more beds for next year.

For the 2,384 spaces on campus, there are 2,422 applicants. More than 50 incoming freshmen are currently without housing for next year, and many students are stuck in dorms they did not choose.

"We've never had that big of a freshman-sophomore class," Jane Barrantes, director of auxiliary services said. "I don't currently have beds for everyone that applied. We have certain spaces that we anticipate tripling for next year. But I don't want to triple a normal residence hall room."

The university is currently planning to triple certain rooms in Graham, McLaughlin and Walsh Residence Halls next year.

The housing problems stem from a recent increase in class size. The current freshman class is the largest ever admitted, and next year's class is expected to be even larger.

As of May 1, 1,370 incoming freshmen have placed a deposit to attend Santa Clara. Housing has received 1,145 applications for the 1,092 spaces they have reserved as guaranteed housing for freshmen, resulting in over 50 incoming freshmen without guaranteed beds.

1,277 returning students filed for housing by the February deadline, 253 more than had applied the previous year. Thirty students who applied for housing after the deadline are currently without rooms.

Administration officials said new dorms will not be built for at least a couple of years, leaving some administrators worried about their ability to provide services for a growing student body.

"The university has dedicated their financial resources to the library and to the business school next, and it's not going to happen in the next couple of years. I know it's not," Barrantes said. "We need to get back our class sizes to where we said we were going to put them."

Some students feel slighted, as the housing department is putting new freshmen before current students. Current Swig resident Ali Lewis hoped to transfer to a smaller dorm next year. She and her roommate filed for housing the first day, ranking Campisi, Graham, Sanfilippo , Dunne and McLaughlin as their top choices. But housing placed her back in Swig -- which she and her roommate hadn't even listed.

"Swig is kind of a party dorm. It's a freshman dorm," Lewis said. "Honestly, we did our time. We were pretty gung-ho about not living in Swig next year. I didn't even put Cypress on my list."

After many e-mails, phone calls and visits to the housing office, Lewis was reassigned to Alameda South across the street from the south end of campus.

The building will become part of the Communitas RLC, one of her top choices. However, it is not the Campisi dorm she wanted.

"It's better than Swig," Lewis said. "My only concern is it's a little bit farther from class."

Swig resident Kelly Tarantello was also placed in a dorm she hadn't ranked, Alameda North. "It's kind of weird. They just put you wherever they want to," Taranetello said.

While Tarantello and Lewis were trying to get out of Swig, freshman Scott Carbaugh couldn't make his way into Swig.

Carbaugh, who currently lives in Sobrato, wants to live in Dunne or Swig Residence Hall next year to have a "college experience." But instead, he has been placed in the Alameda North apartments two blocks from the center of campus.

"I know that freshmen should be able to get in the dorms, but I feel like they're kind of putting us off," said Carbaugh.

Administration officials said Residential Learning Communities were the most effective method for placing students. "Our RLC program is the way that we deliver the best learning experience to our students," said Phil Kesten, associate provost, Residential Learning Communities.

Some officials said that a student's RLC is more important than their physical housing situation.

"We don't sell housing. We sell Residential Learning Communities," Director of Residence Life Scott Strawn said. "Obviously, there are students that have preferences for different things, but the RLCs are the first and foremost consideration in the process."

However, many students have said RLCs have very little impact on their dorm social lives. "The people we wanted to know in our dorms, we got to know because they were here around us," Lewis said.

Carbaugh said he didn't even consider the RLCs. "Literally, I just disregard the whole RLC thing. I just look at the building," Carbaugh said. "I'm just looking for a social building. I don't want to be segregated by major or put in just by class because, in life, you're not just going to be with people who are just like you."

Because of the complications with finding a compatible dorm environment, some students have opted to bypass the entire housing process and live off campus next year. Freshman Micaela Rios plans to move to an apartment complex next year, saying that on campus housing is "overpriced."

Others don't want to miss out on what they consider to be a basic part of college.

"We're only going to go through that once in our lives. I'm not going to look back and say I wish I'd got more sleep 20 years from now. I'm going to be like, I remember those times when we were up until four in the morning doing nothing, and it was awesome," said Carbaugh.

Housing advises students unhappy with their assignments to get on a wait-list for preferred dorms.

"We do have a lot of movement, and, if we know of a student that wishes to move, we will do everything we can to get that move," said Barrantes. "We have dozens of people that drop out over the summer, so a little musical chairs goes on."

Until then, students will just have to wait and see. "I'm just really frustrated," Carbaugh said. "I just want to be put in Dunne or Swig, and I don't know if that's too much to ask."

Contact Sarah Yokubaitis at (408) 554-4546 or syokubaitis@scu.edu