CNU Housing: How it Works and How it Could Be Revised
The CNU Housing process causes upperclassmen unnecessary stress and leaves many confused. CNU students explain exactly why this happens and how housing might go about revising these issues.
Unlike other colleges, Christopher Newport University (CNU) requires students to live on campus for three out of the four years they attend the school. By that reasoning, students are guaranteed housing for those three years. However, many students are frustrated by this requirement and the overall housing process, as it induces unnecessary stress.
The CNU Housing process is known as a lottery with registration times being distributed randomly to second, third, and fourth-year students. However, some students are given priority within the lottery based on whether or not they are in the Presidential Leadership or Honors Program.
Additionally, fourth-year students are given later times, since they are not required to live on campus. Junior, Tanney Chhayrath stated that, “Because of the random distribution of times and how certain people are guaranteed priority, it seems a bit unfair and difficult to obtain the room that you want.”
Once times are assigned, registration occurs on a first-come, first-serve basis. Within a housing unit, the student who has the earliest time will pick a housing option for the entire group. Depending on their time, they may or may not get their first choice of dorms. In fact, they might not get any of their choices.
Upperclassmen are able to pick from multiple different apartment-style dorms. Leases are either 10 or 12 month leases. The 10-month lease is $4280 per semester, while the 12-month lease is $5020 per semester.
The housing lottery begins at 9 am with approximately 10 students selecting their unit every 5 minutes. Students with later times are often out of luck, especially if they have a smaller group size with the average group size being four students.
If your group size does not match the total beds available in any of the units left, then your group will not be able to select a unit during the housing selection process. They will be placed in a pool of students that include students who wished to go random or could not find a roommate group.
When the selection process closes, the manual assignment process begins. The University Housing team reviews remaining available spaces and evaluates the placement options. When asked about this process, a spokesperson for University Housing explained that priority is given on the time ticket order and with effort to keep the roommate groups intact whenever possible. Oftentimes, the housing team will combine roommate groups and students who chose to go random to fill the unit.
During the manual assignment process, students are left stressed over whether they will be placed with their desired group. On a bigger note, seniors not guaranteed CNU housing are left fretting over whether they will even be placed on campus or forced to search for off campus options.
Chhayrath admitted that her roommate group preferred living on campus and banked on doing so. However, housing filled up before they were set to register. She went on to say that, “We had no other option but to seek off-campus housing, which is an obstacle for us since transportation is no longer convenient.”
Junior Sarah Poole also had issues with housing this year. Even though she is an Honors and Presidential Leadership Program (PLP) student, therefore receiving priority housing, she was not given her first choice of living circumstances. Sarah and her roommate were assigned to live with two other girls that they did not know. Quickly, this issue became a matter of mental health.
Both Poole and her agreed roommate have severe anxiety and mental health issues that, “Are greatly worsened by unknown situations like this one.” Her agreed roommate decided to live off campus, yet Sarah is stuck living on campus due to scholarship requirements.
All of the students interviewed agreed that the CNU residency requirement is partly at fault. Junior Lila Araujo said that, “I feel like it really does bind people in.” On a similar note, Poole said that, “It’s unnecessary.” She believes that to fix the process, CNU Housing needs to either build more housing or change the residency requirement, “Because there simply isn’t enough accommodation for the amount of students they have and that’s unacceptable.”
By doing away with the three-year residency requirement, CNU Housing could make more room for those who want to live on campus, while giving other students the opportunity to seek off-campus housing.
Others argued that the entire process might need to be changed. Chhayrath explained that, “I feel like housing could be done in a more organized way instead of a first-come, first-serve basis.” She said that the process as it exists now leaves “most people unsatisfied with their living situations, which make campus life feel less rewarding for them.”
Junior Jake Hamrick agreed with Chhayrath in saying that the process needs to be overhauled. He said that perhaps housing assignments could be given out rather than students picking their housing through the lottery system. Hamrick explained this thinking by saying that, “It might put more pressure on the school, but it could alleviate the pressure on the students. After all, if they can assign us freshman year, why can’t they do the other years?”
CNU Housing did not return my request for comment regarding an overhaul of the process or change in the three-year residency requirement. However, a spokesperson for CNU Housing did respond to my question of what is being done to fix the issue of the Housing Portal closing early by saying that, “Each year we evaluate the overall process and related communications to identify and incorporate ways to help improve the overall experience of room selection.”
However, according to the interviewed students, there is a disconnect between CNU Housing and the students. Students, mainly rising seniors, are unhappy with the housing selection process and are ready for change. Whether or not CNU listens is a different matter.