Current freshmen can look forward to online-only housing registration that will let them choose where they want to live, right down to their room number.
An update to the housing registration software used by the Office of Residence Life Education and Housing will allow freshmen to pick their roommate, select their preferred hall and choose their room.
An information meeting explaining how to use the new housing system will be from 7-8 p.m. April 22 in Hart Auditorium.
This is the first time the ResLife office has done online selection for housing, and Director of Residence Life Bob Strader is already preparing for improvements to the system.
“When you do something for the first time, you usually have some glitches that you need to improve on the next year,” Strader said. “I feel really good about this, but I also know we’ll find some things we’ll need to do differently as we move forward.”
Residential Services Coordinator Debbie Stewart said this new system will be an easier, more efficient way for students to register for sophomore housing.
“In the past with the lottery system, if you didn’t have a high lottery number, you weren’t guaranteed to get the place that you wanted and couldn’t be sure what your housing situation was going to be like,” Stewart said. “Once you select a housing assignment on the new online system, you know immediately what your housing selection is going to be.”
Students will be able to validate their roommate selections with PINs they must set up in order to register.
“The PIN number will be given to the person you want to room with, so if you don’t want to room with someone, do not give them your PIN number,” Stewart said.
After students follow the instructions for roommate selection, they can then choose their desired dorm, look at a map of each floor and select which room they want to live in. The map shows exactly how many beds are in a room, which rooms are still available and where rooms are in relation to exits and lobbies.
Strader said this new system will be an improvement in the registration process for students and administrators.
“I think it’ll be easier on everybody,” Strader said. “Students won’t have to wait, they’ll have much more access to specific rooms and, of course, we won’t be sitting behind a desk seeing one person at a time.”
