(U-WIRE) BOSTON, Ma. -- Northeastern University's student housing problem has extended to the incoming freshman class, leaving 100 members of the Class of 2004 without housing for the fall, according to the office of Residential Life.
Meanwhile, both the upperclass and freshman waiting lists have been frozen, with little chance of the lists being cleared before September.
Overcrowding, in general, has multiplied problems for NU officials in a number of areas:
* classes are expected to be larger, causing school officials to consider new class sequences in the activities period time slot.
* the upperclass housing waiting list is still hovering around 800 students, with about a month before students move into their fall housing assignments.
* orientation sessions have been filled over capacity.
Upperclass housing has been one of the university's biggest obstacles.
According to Marina Iannalfo, associate director of operations and financial management at Residential Life, 300 wait-listed students have responded to a letter in early July asking if they still needed housing.
Iannalfo said those 300 are priority for fall housing, but also noted that right now both the upperclass and freshman waiting lists are at a standstill.
"Right now, it's frozen on both ends," she said.
The letter was sent those with lottery numbers 201 and the end of the waiting list to see if they still needed housing. Thanks to the response to the letters, Residential Life is a little more hopeful that the housing crunch will subside.
But she realizes that things won't go as smoothly as in the past couple of years. "We have not seen the cancellations and withdrawals that we've seen in past years," Iannalfo said.
Iannalfo said there is no waiting list for freshmen. Instead, parents or students must go through an appeals process and specify their need for housing. Residential Life is not currently planning to house freshman at the expense of upperclass students, but later this month could be crunch-time for the process.
"It's hard to speculate," Iannalfo said. "We're always looking at different venues in and around campus."
About 3,400 freshmen were accepted to Northeastern this fall, 600 above a mandated 2,800-person cap.
According to President Richard Freeland, the added enrollment shows how popular NU is becoming.
But others think that the error stems from over-enrollment, and that it will only compound NU's problems in the future.
The Resident Student Association passed a resolution last Wednesday calling for the formation of a committee on the housing problems that freshmen could experience both this year and next.
Since this year's freshman class is guaranteed housing in their sophomore year, RSA feels that the same housing crunch could occur next year.
RSA president Colleen Lynch said the committee's goal will be to alleviate housing pressures, but a definite solution has become elusive.
"That's kind of up in the air," Lynch said. "There's a lot of potential [housing] problems."
Residential Life is strongly encouraging students to look for off-campus housing.
The RSA resolution asks that representatives from the Student Government Association, Residential Life, the enrollment office and the President's office form a committee to solve the problem.
The resolution passed by a 9-0 vote.
Last year, a similar housing crunch saw 1,420 students on the waiting list in June. However, only about 30 percent pursued on-campus housing and they were accommodated by the start of the school year.
