Officials placed about 250 students on a housing waitlist for the upcoming academic year.
Seth Weinshel, the associate vice president of business services, said officials place 100 to 300 students on housing waitlists every year, and students on this year’s list will still receive an assignment. Officials said in an email to waitlisted students that an increased number of students applying for housing as a back-up plan to alternative arrangements, like off-campus housing and study abroad plans, was a potential cause for the size of the waitlist.
Weinshel said officials would provide all students with on-campus housing by June 1, but the original email sent to students last week said waitlisted students may receive their housing placements as late as July, about a month before students move back onto campus in the fall.
“GW will house all students on the list,” Weinshel said in an email.
He declined to provide the size of the waitlist for the past five years.
Officials offered students living in Amsterdam, Francis Scott Key, Fulbright, Guthridge, JBKO, Munson, Shenkman and South halls, District and International houses, The Dakota, 1959 E Street and 2109 F Street the option to continue living in those residence halls for the upcoming academic year.
Students placed on the waitlist said they were “anxious” when they received an email telling them they hadn’t been assigned a room for the upcoming year.
Some said they attempted to contact CLRE asking for explanations and ways to get off the waitlist, but students said CLRE left most students with little clarification. Officials said the University will remove students from the waitlist and assign them housing when other students seeking nonresidence hall housing options cancel their on-campus assignments.
Allison Barusevicius, a freshman living in Fulbright, said she and three of her friends applied for a four-person room in Shenkman, but all four were placed on the housing waitlist. She said rising sophomores and juniors may be left in a gray area with less clarity on their assignments since incoming freshmen are guaranteed housing and the University allows seniors to register for housing before other grades.
The D.C. Zoning Commission requires all GW students to live on campus for their first two years, but the University requires most juniors to live in campus housing as well. Officials approved housing requirement exemptions for at least 700 juniors last year, allowing those students to live off campus.
Barusevicius said she was confused as to why GW is forcing some sophomores to wait for their housing assignments, which can delay making plans with potential roommates.
“The policy that they have is based on D.C. zoning laws and binds first years and second years to on-campus housing,” Barusevicius said. “So if you’re binding sophomores to live on campus, why are you not prioritizing their housing?”
