Officials announced Wednesday they expect to allow 1,500 additional students to live on campus during the spring semester as classes remain online.
Administrators said they will continue offering housing to students with extenuating circumstances but will now also allow any undergraduate student to apply for spring housing, according to an email sent to the GW community. Students will live in separate bedrooms and will share a bathroom with no more than one other student, officials said.
“Thanks to the expertise and capacity we have developed to effectively manage in-house COVID-19 testing, the seriousness with which our community has taken compliance with health and safety measures and the resulting success of our efforts to contain the spread of the virus on campus, we are now at the stage where we believe we can safely welcome back a limited number of additional residential students to campus for the spring semester,” officials said in the email.
GW has reported 62 positive COVID-19 cases since mid-August as of Wednesday, and the positivity rate has remained at less than 2 percent for more than two months. Roughly 500 students with extenuating circumstances currently reside on campus and will not need to reapply for housing for the spring semester, the email states.
Jay Goff, the vice provost of enrollment and student success, said in an interview Tuesday that officials had opened dialogues with other nearby universities to discuss plans for spring housing in recent days. Goff spoke with administrators at Georgetown University last week about spring plans, he said.
“We’ve been trying to reach out and see what the other schools are doing,” Goff said.
Officials said they will provide detailed instructions on how to apply for spring housing in the “coming days,” and students will be notified whether they have received a space by mid-November. Housing will not be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and officials will conduct a lottery if more than 1,500 students apply.
Administrators said all students who live on campus must adhere to all local and GW public health requirements.
“Each of us plays a role in limiting the spread of the virus, and we thank the on-campus community for continuing their commitment to keeping one another healthy and safe,” officials said in the email.
