Account holds could affect 73 student housing placements
By Kami Lewis
Staff Reporter

Some students’ housing contracts may be affected by the new Financial Services payment policy, while other students are moving into single rooms as the fall housing crunch lessens, said Karen Baker, associate director of Residential Services.

If students do not pay the minimum balance on their accounts by Jan. 18, they will no longer be enrolled in classes according to the current Financial Services policy. If students are not enrolled in at least nine semester hours they will not be eligible for campus housing, Baker said.

“We are very willing to work with these students,” Baker said. “We are working closely with Financial Services to make sure we do everything we can for them before the Friday deadline.”

Of the 60 students with current holds on their accounts as of Thursday evening, 20 live on-campus, Baker said.

Erica Richardson, a senior finance major, said working to get her hold removed was a frustrating experience.

“There didn’t seem to be enough people over in Financial Services; my parents kept getting busy signals when they tried to call,” she said. “It took me something like five days to get it taken care of, and I wasn’t even aware of the housing situation.”

Last fall, undergraduate space was so limited students were living in residence hall lobbies and in the Greek halls. Conditions this semester are much different, said Baker.
Karin Lewis, coordinator of housing assignments, said all requests for single dorm rooms were met this semester, and that many residence halls still have empty double occupancy rooms.

“Since we’ve completed the initial consolidation process for the semester, it’s pretty late to switch to a single room,” Lewis said. “But if a student is living in a dorm room now and is willing to move to another dorm they ought to talk to their hall director to find out if a switch is an option in the next few days.” Twenty-four undergraduate women are still living in the graduate apartments because of the fall housing shortage, Baker said. The women applied for the Tom Brown/Pete Wright Residence Complex last spring, but were offered off-campus apartments for the year instead.

Despite on-campus availability in many of the undergraduate residence halls this semester, all the women decided to remain in the apartments, she said.

“When we offered the apartments to them, we decided it would not be fair to make them move at the semester break,” Baker said.

Lewis said there is a traditional decrease in occupancy rates for on-campus residence halls most spring semesters. Additionally, a lull in dorm renovations until December 2002 means all dorms are open for business this semester.

Kami Lewis
k.e.lewis2@student.tcu.edu

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