Sophomores who are looking to sublet their off-campus property, as well as those who are still searching for room and board, can now breathe a little easier.
An extensive subletting database -- distributed by e-mail -- made its debut earlier this week, prompted by the efforts of Sophomore Class President Jack Cohen.
"I thought that there would be a few people who procrastinated like me," said the College sophomore and Daily Pennsylvanian photographer of his motivation for compiling the list.
Although he said he expected that there would only be "30 or 40 people in dire need like me," he ended up with 200 to 300 responses clogging his e-mail inbox.
It only took Cohen a few days to plow through all of the requests, which he then divided into buyer and seller categories, arranged by season.
He noted that there was a disproportionate number of students searching for summer or fall subletters, an estimated "three times more supply than demand." Yet, for the spring semester there is more demand than supply, probably due to people returning from studying abroad.
Cohen's fellow sophomores were not the only students impressed with the idea. Junior Class President Matt Klapper is planning to institute a similar practice for the Class of 2005.
"There is no real central way to find subletting opportunities" for both sides, Klapper said, acknowledging that Cohen was "very creative."
"Off-campus housing leads to a bunch of problems -- it's a big headache a lot of the time," he said, adding that the online housing lists are "a way to make the lives of our classmates easier."
Klapper plans on bringing the issue to the Junior Class Board today.
"I'm sure I'm not going to run into any opposition with this," he said, predicting that an e-mail introducing the junior class to the idea would likely be sent out by tonight.
Klapper is also interested in consolidating supply and demand across grade levels.
"We can even coordinate with the sophomore class to get an even bigger pool," he said.
But bigger pools can bring some interesting requests.
"One guy said, 'stripper pole a plus, people skills a must'" in reference to his needs, Cohen said, quoting from an e-mail he received from a fellow sophomore.
Other students were seeking more typical offers.
"It just seemed like it would immediately put you in touch with a lot of people," College sophomore John Erickson said of the ad he posted.
Many believe that Cohen is saving them from added stress.
"I've heard a lot of people having problems in the past, and I really don't want to go through that," Erickson said.
Wharton sophomore Kelly Rytel agreed.
"I can see how it would be a big problem because there are not that many people who stay around in the summer," she said.
Some students thought that the idea could even be expanded.
"I think it would be a good idea if there was a schoolwide" system, College sophomore Dan Munter said.
"If there was one centralized thing you could search, it would be really convenient," he said, specifically suggesting a Web site.
Cohen is already making plans to create a format similar to what Munter suggested.
"I think I'm going to try to work with some people on the Undergraduate Assembly," he said. His goal is to design a Web site "where you can post and search for sublets."
"It's stupid that there isn't one already," Cohen said, adding that "the University should do a lot of stuff like this."
The Office of Off-Campus Living has a Web site where people can advertise an available or desired residence, but a charge of $5 is imposed on each post.
