<p>I just read an alarming quote from the Dean of the College that there is only housing for 58% of undergraduates? WTH? So what happens to the 40% of students who don't get housing in the lottery? A little reassuance here would be appreciated, as Son is transfering to C in Sept.</p>
<p>I believe juniors and seniors often opt to live in neighborhood housing. When I was considering applying as a transfer, I recall seeing that housing is guaranteed for transfers. It may not be though after his first year there.</p>
<p>would love to hear from some current C students, or idad.</p>
<p>First of all, I have never heard of students who wanted to live in housing but couldn't. </p>
<p>Students are basically assured their spots in their house for the following year. The fact is, U of C housing is expensive, the meal plan is a rip off, and students can find cheap housing off campus. Many second years move off campus, many more move out after second year, and very few stay in housing for their last year. It's not that people don't like Housing--I think most do, but it's cheaper to live off campus. It shouldn't worry you that there is only housing available for 58% (though I have never heard that statistic) because essentially there is housing available for 100% of students who want it. I hope that makes you feel better.</p>
<p>Further, the new dorm is going to be able to hold tons of students, I think. I have heard that Chicago is trying to create more housing that is attractive to upperclassmen in order to keep them living on campus (which obviously gives the University more money). As is, students at Chicago are pretty independent, and many students are paying a good portion of their own tuition or room/bored, so students tend to move to apartments in the Hyde Park area after a couple of years in housing.</p>
<p>There is no problem with students who want to stay in housing not being able to.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! That makes me feel better, despite just reading that the new dorm is now projected to be finished a year later than planned. The 58% quote from Jon Boyer is in the April issue of the Chicago Chronicle, page 3, which we just received as part of our parents mailing. First I had heard of it too.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't read the Chronicle. :)</p>
<p>Students are mostly happy about the push-back for the opening of the new dorm because it means the Shoreland, a beloved and integral dorm, will be open for another year.</p>
<p>corranged is correct. A lot of students move out of the dorms as soon as they can. There are tons of interesing apartment choices in Hyde Park, some closer to the heart of the campus than the more distant dorms, too, and most closer to shopping, groceries and public transit than the dorms. (not that any of the above are far. This is not a big-10 style campus!)</p>
<p>The U has done a lot to upgrade dorms the past decade as it revitalizes undergrad education and develops more of a proper campus. The shoreland, the one closing, was a long hike from the main campus.</p>
<p>Do be aware, though, that at the end of first year, the dorms use a lottery system for selecting a priority system for following year choice. My D had a high lottery number, which meant she could not stay in her current dorm, which would have been her first choice. So she was rather forced into off campus housing. And since the lottery happens rather late in the year, it left her in a tough spot for finding a room she liked.</p>
<p>Newsmassdad, was your daughter's situation this year or last year? This year the "quotes" that existed in past years in Max Palevsky, the largest dorm, to limit the number of upperclassmen were eliminated, meaning that every student could stay in the dorm. The only dorm that I am not sure about is Snell-Hitchcock; since students in that dorm tend to stay in housing longer than students in other dorms, they may limit the number of returning students in order to make room for incoming first years.</p>
<p>"The only dorm that I am not sure about is Snell-Hitchcock; since students in that dorm tend to stay in housing longer than students in other dorms, they may limit the number of returning students in order to make room for incoming first years."</p>
<p>I believe that all the S-H folk can return if they want - I think that the housing policy limiting returns was changed. Makes it hard to get a spot for 1st years, though.</p>
<p>My daughter was happy to move into an off-campus apartment after her first year (and we were happy to save about $3,000 on rent and food in the switch). Most of her friends remained in university dorms for their second year, but I don't think any of them are staying in the dorms as third years. There seems to be plenty of competitive, decent, convenient apartments available in Hyde Park. My impression is that Snitchcock is the only dorm at Chicago that really has a four-year, womb-to-tomb culture.</p>
<p>On the one hand, I think that's a weakness of Chicago as an undergraduate institution. On the other, though, I don't think it would necessarily be good for Hyde Park or, by extension, the university, if all of a sudden it sucked all the undergraduates out of the private rental market. And the university arguably shouldn't be deploying its capital to build housing that the private market is more than willing to provide. Better to build labs, libraries, and classrooms.</p>
<p>The new dorm was supposed to house about 300 more students, but that number may have been pushed down a bit with the reduction of dorm height from 14 to 9 stories for the center building. S lived in Shoreland for two years and will be living in an apartment this year that will place him much much closer to campus. He is very happy with the apartment which he will share with two others.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has many more graduate students than undergraduates, so the Hyde Park neigborhood is heavily populated with students. Moving out of a dorm into the neigborhood is not as big a deal at Chicago than it might be at another school.</p>
<p>Undergraduate housing (freshman housing in particular) is a competitive disadvantage when comparing Chicago to other schools. The distance of some dorms (Shoreland and Broadview) retard integration of students (particularly female students) into the life of the school. It's a shame because the campus has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has many more graduate students than undergraduates, so the Hyde Park neigborhood is heavily populated with students. Moving out of a dorm into the neigborhood is not as big a deal at Chicago than it might be at another school.</p>
<p>Undergraduate housing (the housing of freshmen in particular) is a competitive disadvantage when comparing Chicago to other schools. The distance of some dorms (Shoreland and Broadview) retard integration of new students (particularly female students) into the life of the school. It's a shame because the campus has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The distance of some dorms (Shoreland and Broadview) retard integration of students (particularly female students) into the life of the school.
[/quote]
That hasn't been true in my experience at all, Elgordo. The campus shuttles run regularly until 2 AM on the weekdays (and 6 AM on the weekends), and Shoreland students are always ready to jump on a shuttle at a moment's notice. They don't seem to have a problem at all with taking a shuttle or bus to campus for a club meeting or for dinner or to meet someone. They just seem really comfortable with it. Also, since Shoreland is one of the largest dorms on campus (12 floors), a lot of social life on campus is actually based around the Shoreland, and students on campus may find themselves regularly traveling to Shoreland on a Friday or Saturday night to go to a party. The only times I have heard people in the Shoreland or Broadview say that they don't want to go to campus is during cold, rainy days--the same days where students in Max don't want to leave their rooms, either.</p>
<p>S loved the Shoreland, and feels very connected to campus. He just wanted to transition to apartment living now rather than after graduation.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! obtw, I read in the April 13 issue of the Maroon that the new dorm is supposed to hold around 800 students.
"Through a reorganization of floor plans, the employment of alternative construction materials, and the elimination of smaller common areas, the University was able to retain 820 of the original 885 beds and most of the distinctive architectural features."</p>
<p>Note that it's replacing a dorm that holds 600+ students. The net increase in available dorm slots isn't that significant -- certainly not enough to change the custom that the vast majority of upperclassmen live off campus.</p>
<p>Oh duh![slaps self on forehead] you're right.</p>