By: Dara Edwards

With the end of our Spring semester inching closer there seems to be one question one most students’ minds. Where are we going to live? By now, most have made their roommate groups or have at least considered where they want to live, however some students are a little worried and even disappointed with the options they’ve got.

As we all know, your status as a student entirely depends on your credits. You could be considered a junior credit-wise but still only be in your second year of school. You may be wondering how credits play into housing, but it’s more important than people realize. Your housing and where you live is also determined by your credits and if you don’t reach the amount of credits needed to live in the place you want, you can’t be placed there. It’s the system that works and makes it easier to organize who goes where.

The reason that students are disappointed is that it feels like there are not many housing options as there were in the past. Places such as College Ave. or the infamous Townhouses are heaven for juniors and seniors as they provide that feeling of freedom and allow students to feel more like adults. However, since this semester’s lottery started, those options have immediately disappeared. Of course, if you don’t have a roommate group, it is harder to get those options, but if your lottery slot hasn’t yet opened, it can be frustrating to see it gone. Places like Stewart Hall or Bane Hall are still up for the lottery, but with the most sought-after places being taken up before the junior lottery ever started can cause anxiety for those who are yet to go such as sophomores or freshman. Currently, the juniors are up to choose their housing options, but with the only places left being Bane or Stewart Hall many of the current sophomores and freshmen are worried that those options will fill up fast leaving the up-campus housing to be filled.

It is important, though, to consider the various options for theme housing. Greek life has the opportunity to live in sorority or fraternity housing, where they get to live with their fellow brothers/sisters and still have access to a full kitchen, more private bathrooms, and even a fully functional living room. This type of theme housing requires you to be in Greek life, though, so unless you are a brother or sister, those options are not available to you. There is other housing though such as the W.I.N.G. house. Members of W.I.N.G. (Women Inspiring the Next Generation) have the chance to live in a house with their fellow club members. Housing like this is available to any and all members of W.I.N.G. who choose to live there. Theme housing is

limited though, as some of these places require different things to live there. The biggest concern with theme housing is that many of the houses are becoming worn down and seem to be falling apart, leaving many students to wonder if the conditions are livable. Not only that, but if the theme housing does not meet the expectations set in terms of how many people live in the houses, places like the W.I.N.G. house are taken away as an option.

Up-campus housing, unlike down-campus or theme housing, is not as competitive. Buildings up-campus include, Hodge Hall, Sawhill, and Florence West. These are considered the freshman dorms; however, some upperclassmen are placed here due to complications with health or lack of housing in other areas. These buildings have little to no requirements to live there and are even considered more ideal if you want to be closer to your classes, but some upperclassmen feel less like an adult when living with freshman and feel as if they have little opportunity to be an adult. The biggest concern with this housing option is that many of these buildings aren’t respected by other students and are often destroyed and some don’t always feel comfortable in those dorms due to harassment.

Of course, this isn’t to say that all the housing options are bad, but it’s important to raise concerns and consider the cons especially when it comes to where you’re going to live. These worries and frustrations make it easier for staff to better accommodate the students that go here and find ways to fix it. There are other things we have to consider such as graduate students as well coming to Thiel to participate in a master’s program as they too require housing. We must always remember though; these situations are often out of our control and there’s not much we can do about it except talk and get people to listen in hopes that we can come to a solution for everyone.