Shakira WarrenNot having a place to stay while juggling your class schedule, on top of getting your books for class may not be the ideal way incoming and returning students want to start their semester off at NCCU. But that is the situation faced by hundreds of students arriving on campus this semester.
“I paid for my housing in the middle of June,” said biology senior Shayla Vinson. “That gave me the reassurance that I had someplace to stay.”
Still, a large number of students are living in hotels and riding buses to class as Residential Life works to find room for them on campus.
Students who decide to live on campus are required to pay a $150 nonrefundable housing administrative fee, a fee that goes toward programming in residential halls.
“I paid for my housing on time, and didn’t find out anything about my housing situation until days after move in day,” said mass communication sophomore Allyson Dean.
Director of the Department of Residential Life Ronnie Davis said in an email to the Campus Echo that the housing administration fee is “not a security deposit, nor does it guarantee housing.”
According to Davis, there are 12 residence halls located on campus and 2,828 beds available to students. He said freshmen occupy 1,124 of those beds while 1,704 are occupied by upperclassmen and graduate students.
There are more than 6,000 students attending NCCU, according to a recent profile on the class of 2020. There are 1,572 new students, 438 transfer students and 1,134 students joining the class of 2020.
Biology senior Shayla Vinson said throughout the summer Residential Life didn’t notify her of her housing assignment. She said no one reached out to her to let her know what was going on with the process.
“The only reason I got updates was because I was calling,” said Vinson. “If I wanted to find out more information and news, I would have to call them.”
Dean said she also had difficulty finding out about her room assignment throughout the summer. “I called the entire list of Residential Life and they never answered,” she said.
“My mom got tired of it,” said Dean, adding that her mother set her up in the Double Tree hotel. Last Saturday Dean was placed in Chidley Residence Hall.
According to Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Gary Brown, Residential Life has been working hard with housing assignments and they “could do better communicating with students.”
Vinson said she spoke with Brown and he told her there are more than 2,800 beds on campus and at least 1,800 incoming freshmen. According to Vinson, Brown told her there were 380 students without housing. Seventy-five students were placed at the Double Tree Hotel located on Meridian Parkway, and 150 graduate and law students as well as seniors with 3.0 Grade Point Averages or better were placed at Level 51 Ten, an apartment complex located on Old Chapel Hill Road, according to a Friday email from the Division of Student Affairs.
In all 35 students remain on a waiting list as of August 26, according to the Division of Student Affairs.
Vinson said she is one of the remaining students with nowhere to stay, and she is frustrated that NCCU Residential Life did next to nothing to accommodate her.
“They apologized and said they are waiting to hear something, and as soon as they hear something they will contact us,” said Vinson.
According to Brown, Residential Life will have information today from a door-by-door survey to see if any rooms are available from no shows or cancellations. The Campus Echo is waiting for information about how many student remain on the waiting list. These remaining students will be placed as rooms come available.
