<p>I am wondering why so many students live off campus. Is it because there is not enough space on-campus, or because the dorms are not very nice? The housing office could not tell me what percentage of sophmores, juniors, or seniors that applied for on-campus housing were able to stay on campus. They did say that half of the on-campus students are freshman, and the other half are soph, juniors, and seniors. Does anyone know what percentage of students that want to stay on campus are able to? Is it purely a lottery system, or do other factors enter (class, grades, credits)?</p>
<p>It’s a lottery although freshmen are guaranteed on campus housing. Upperclassmen have access to the better dorms. Upperclassmen can request a certain dorm and they fill based on your lottery number. So if you have lottery number 1 you basically get whatever dorm you want. If you have a really low number you may not get a dorm at all. Spots are held for freshmen but unless you’re in a housing program those spots are going to be in the dorms that other people didn’t want.</p>
<p>In the lottery every returning student has an equal chance. There is no weighting for grades/year/etc. Last year all students that wanted to live on campus were able to. This year they anticipate that 90-95% will be able to due to some more renovations. </p>
<p>They’ve improved a lot of the dorms recently with the AJ renovations and Pritchard going co-ed (although I’m told the smell remains,) and I was actually a fan of the small ‘bad’ dorm I was in Freshman year, Barringer. We had no amenities but there was a good sense of community.</p>
<p>People move off campus for a variety of reasons but I think the biggest is ‘not having someone sleeping five feet from your head.’ After a year or two (I stayed two) you just want a little room to yourself. I know several people that stayed on campus for their Junior year although I don’t know anyone who stuck around for Senior year. By that point sharing a single room is just too invasive for a lot of people. It’s a factor more of the nature of forming than anything wrong with VT in particular though.</p>
<p>Here’s more info: [Returning</a> Undergraduates Student Housing | Application Process | Your Housing & Dining Contract | Housing & Residence Life | DSA | Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://www.housing.vt.edu/contracts/apply/undergrad.php]Returning”>http://www.housing.vt.edu/contracts/apply/undergrad.php)</p>