<p>In case any of you incoming freshman were interested in the dorm Bexley Hall. It is closing at the end of this semester, for up to 3 years, due to structural problems. More info here: Bexley</a> to close at end of semester for up to three years due to structural problems - MIT News Office</p>
<p>I saw that. I can’t believe they’re not going to move current students somewhere together – I feel like they ought to spare space in one of the grad dorms or something.</p>
<p>There is also a severe lack of graduate housing while it seems like the other undergraduate dorms can accommodate the current residents of Bexley so that seems like a suboptimal use of space.</p>
<p>MIT actually does not have enough room in the dorms for all the undergraduate students, and relies on the frats and ILGs to take on some of the load.</p>
<p>Well, grad students are perfectly capable of living in apartments rather than campus housing – we do get paid, after all. </p>
<p>I just thought of grad dorms because when I was at MIT, Thetas were housed in grad housing, and there was a program called Senior Segue that allowed seniors planning an M.Eng. to move to grad housing. I think the initial group of Ashdown students was also housed in Sid-Pac. Clearly there’s more flexibility in grad housing than undergrad – grad students aren’t owed a spot in the dorms for the duration of their degrees.</p>
<p>Grad students can certainly live off campus but I think demand to live on campus currently exceeds the supply. I think most (although possibly not the administration) think more grad students being able to live on campus would be desirable as well. Wasn’t overcrowding on campus a problem before Maseeh was remade into an undergraduate dorm as well? That could explain why the administration is less willing to move undergrads into grad housing right now.</p>
<p>UMTYMP - thanks - your post actually relieves some of my concerns about overcrowding in the other dorms with Bexley closing. I guess I didn’t think of that because as long as my kids have been at MIT (2015 & 2016), Maseeh has always been open. But if they survived in the years before they opened it, and it holds 400+ students as compared to Bexley’s 100+, while things might be tight, they shouldn’t be unmanageable. I realize this doesn’t help Bexley students/parents but it did make me feel better!</p>
<p>MIT’s been accepting more and more students per year, so this is actually a stress on the housing system. Many dorms have been told to expect more students, and will be expecting forced doubles and triples as a result.</p>
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Yes, but as Piper notes, class size was smaller then, too (by about 100 students per year). The year before my freshman year, people were living in doubles in MacGregor suite lounges.</p>
<p>Look, I’m not saying we should all form a protest group and burn down the Housing office. I’m just surprised that keeping Bexley students together in grad housing apparently wasn’t offered as an option, given the administration’s historical willingness to sacrifice graduate housing for undergraduate housing – the Ashdown-to-Maseeh conversion being a prime example.</p>