After a housing shortage this past semester pushed many students to satellite housing, upperclassmen housing is shifting once again. Students will move out of Forest West at the end of J-Term to make space for incoming Febs, and students currently studying abroad will return to campus in need of housing. Some students will be given the option to live off-campus but will lose guaranteed housing for future semesters.
During the fall housing lottery process, ResLife informed juniors and seniors that all floors on the west side of Forest were available for the fall and winter term only.
“All students selecting a Forest West space will need to plan to move before Feb break starts as Forest West will be home to part of the Feb community for the spring term,” Associate Dean of Student Life AJ Place said in an email to The Campus.
Seniors, senior Febs and juniors were also informed via a ResLife email on Nov. 19 that they can apply to live off-campus for the spring 2022 semester. Applications were due Nov. 30 with a Zoom lottery on Dec. 2. Final confirmation of off-campus housing will be released on Dec. 17.
However, once students choose to live off-campus, they are not guaranteed on-campus housing in future semesters.
According to the email, “off-Campus release starts with the 2022 Spring Semester and carries until the student graduates. Students wishing to return to campus after accepting an off-campus space will be dependent on housing availability.”
Eva Kaiden ’23, who is currently studying abroad in Madrid, is still unclear about her housing options for J-term and the spring. Kaiden does not know where she will reside for J-term.
“We are currently still waiting on important information that we will need before we are able to work on housing assignments,” a Dec. 3 email Kaiden received from ResLife said.
“If that’s really true, they should require that students inform the college of their J-term status long before September so that students living abroad aren’t left wondering whether or not they will have housing on campus,” Kaiden said.
She added that many of her peers abroad are concerned about not having housing on campus and being moved to Bread Loaf. “The uncertainty of it all is the most stressful part,” Kaiden said.
Bridget Ulian ’23, who currently lives in Forest West, wishes that she had her housing assignment for the spring semester.
“I love Forest and would love to stay here. As that isn’t possible, I at least wish we could know where we were moving sooner than a week before we’re kicked out,” Ulian said. “I also think moving in the middle of the school year is pretty disruptive.”
Charlie Keohane ’24 (she/her) is an Editor at Large. She previously served as the SGA Correspondent and a Senior Writer.
She is an environmental writing major and a psychology minor from Northern California. Outside of academics, Charlie is a Senior Admissions Fellow at the Middlebury Admissions Office. She also is involved with the women’s track team and hosts Witching Hour, a radio show on 91.1 WRMC. In Spring 2023, she studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, watching Greta Gerwig movies, polar plunging, sending snail mail, and FaceTiming her rescue dog, Poppy.
