This year's summer assignment process will find housing for 324 students following the housing lottery's second and final session Tuesday, said Richard Hilton, assistant director of the Office of Residential Life. That number - which includes both those students who chose not to select housing and those who did not attend the lottery - is about 30 to 40 students higher than it was last year, he said.
Of those students, 260 are rising sophomores, he said.
"There could be a bunch of different variables" to account for the increase, Hilton said, citing possibilities like more rising seniors selecting on-campus housing or a higher number of rising juniors not going abroad.
Hilton noted the changes in housing assignments, such as the decision to make Hope College and Littlefield Hall sophomore-only, but he said the changes did not make "a large difference."
Student reactions to the housing lottery were largely disappointed.
Yongha Kim '15 and five other first-years had two quads and two doubles to choose from when their number - 635 - was called at the lottery. Because the group did not want to split into a quad and a double, they elected to enter the summer assignment process. Students with the number 644 and upward opted for summer assignment or were no-shows.
"To be honest, I'm not happy that I don't have a room right now, but I think it will turn out okay," Kim said. "We're just hoping for the best right now."
Mark Villanueva '15, who entered the housing lottery by himself, chose not to attend after receiving a bad number.
"I knew my chances of getting a high number were (a) slim, and the chance of there being any singles left were (b) also slim," Villanueva said. "It seemed like I hadn't done my homework."
After hearing from friends that the summer assignment process could yield singles, Villanueva decided not to attend the lottery.
"I was like, 'Eh, forget about it, I'll just go and take my shot with the summer assignment process,'" he said. Villanueva said he hopes to be assigned a single for the upcoming year.
Some first-years had better luck.
"Knowing where I'm going to live has a lot of comfort to me," Andrea Chin '15 said. She and three other students - who collectively had a number in the low 640s - snagged a Minden quad, one of the last rooms left in the lottery Tuesday night. "I was worried that if we did get summer housing that I wouldn't be with my friends."
But others have a long wait ahead - the University does not inform students of their summer assignments until late August.
"That sucks," Kim said. He said he hopes he will be able to room with at least one other member of his housing group.
"I just don't want to be separated," he said.
