Amiya NealMany students at N.C. Central University still found themselves without housing Thursday after housing self-selection took place on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, reminiscent of housing issues in spring 2025.
Last year, priority was given to students in the honors, band, and athletics programs, as well as Aspiring Eagles Academy and TRIO, before cycling to the rest of the student body. After selecting classes, those students were allowed to select housing first before it cycled through the rest of the student body.
There were also issues with the older dorms, including mold, insect infestations, and faulty air conditioning systems.
This all eventually led to a student-led protest on campus in April of 2025, where four students and a teacher were arrested. They have since been released as of Sept. 23, 2025. After the protests, NCCU promised to improve housing for students and updated the self-selection system after underclassmen were unintentionally allowed to select upperclassmen dorms last spring, causing the university to reset housing assignments altogether.
This year, students were assigned a number and time slot based on the time it took them to apply for housing and classes, with rising juniors and seniors selecting on Monday and Tuesday, and rising sophomores selecting on Thursday, to make selections go smoothly.
One year later, students still seem to struggle with securing on-campus housing.
“I ain’t necessarily tripping, but it’s a little unfortunate,” sophomore Chris Long said. “We don’t really [have] student housing like Duke [University], so it’s [going to] be a little more expensive.”
Long also said his housing situation made him reconsider his class schedule next year and how he was going to navigate having to commute to and from campus.
Some students encountered issues with the housing application process itself.
“I will say it is a bit difficult, since we have to do our classes before we can even do our housing,” junior Kamari Davis said. “And just having to wait since priority goes first as well.”
Other students, like freshman Alivia Bond, seemed to navigate the new application process smoothly and received their housing.
“I feel great, I feel blessed,” Bond said. “I’m grateful because I know a lot of people in my class did not get housing.”
Bond said she mostly encountered issues with Residential Life’s communication, as opposed to the application process.
“I feel like they have an issue with communicating, not the actual applying part,” Bond said.
More students began calling Residential Life as they were not able to get housing for fall 2026, and sharing grievances on social platforms like Fizz, an app where students at universities can share information, personal updates and opinions anonymously.
In a virtual Town Hall meeting held by Residential Life on Zoom last week, Director of Residential Life Durell Hurst emphasized not relying on platforms like Fizz for accurate information.
“We are being made aware that a lot of information is being posted [on] various platforms. Misinformation and wrong information,” Hurst said. “Do not trust it if it’s on Fizz, social media.”
Hurst said that there was no priority selection for athletes, honors students, SGA, royal court, and room allotment was based on class, first-year students, sophomores, juniors, and then seniors in accordance with university policy 40.08.1.
“That allotment was based on university data on retention and matriculation at the university and within the residence halls,” Hurst said. “Once that allotment for your classification [was] filled, you did not have access to the system.”
Hurst also said that through the summer, Residential Life would make their way through the waitlist and put people in housing based on the time they completed class registration and their housing application, but could not guarantee that everyone would receive housing.
An Off-Campus Housing Fair will be held in the Student Center on Apr. 16, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., for students interested in off-campus housing.
But some students still don’t feel like the university is doing enough to remedy the housing situation.
“As an HBCU, as a university, I don’t think it’s being handled—not as effectively as [it] should,” said a student who asked not to be identified. “It’s really falling through the cracks. It’s really careless.”
Long seemed to agree that NCCU could do more to help its students navigate the situation.
“I feel like they could have definitely [done] better,” Long said. “They say that they handled it to the best of their capabilities, but I call cap on that.”
If students did end up finding on or off campus, Davis had some advice for his fellow students to make the most of their college experience.
“Decorate your room,” Davis said. “Make it feel like home, because the more your room feels like home, the less it’ll feel like school.”
