Starting this year, Winston-Salem State University has implemented a new housing application process for students applying for housing for the 2007-2008 school year.
While the criteria have remained the same, the selection method has been reversed. Instead of the first come, first serve process of the past, students will now be selected for housing based on their GPAs.
Priority preference for single rooms will be made for students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to 4.0.
Sophomores and current freshmen females were able to apply for Foundation Heights Suites and Gleason-Hairston 3- and 4-bed apartments.
Sophomores and current freshman males are able to apply for Wilson suites, Gleason-Hairston 3- and 4-bed apartments and Foundation Heights suites.
Both sophomores and current freshman males and females with a cumulative GPA of 4.0 to 2.5 are able to apply for Rams Commons, but they should list it as an option only after previous choices are made.
Students with cumulative GPAs below 2.5 will be offered spaces in Wilson suites (males) if space is available and Pegram (females) during the initial process.
Juniors and seniors were scheduled to apply for housing on Thursday, Feb. 15, from 5:30 p.m. to midnight. However, the process was hindered by a glitch in the program, and was aborted when it became evident it was malfunctioning. It has been rescheduled for the following week.
Mary Young Smith, assistant director for assignments in the Office of Housing and Residence Life, said that the decision to change the way the housing application process was done was made last year after several students made the suggestion.
Some of the more seasoned students felt slightly jilted when they learned that others with lower GPAs, and students who had not attended WSSU that long, were placed in the more popular single bedrooms in Gleason-Hairston Terrace and Rams Commons.
“Last year the juniors and seniors felt we didn’t do right because they weren’t basing the assignments on GPAs,” Smith said. “So freshmen and sophomores who met the minimum GPA requirements got all the good rooms.”
Smith said that students also suggested that days be designated for upperclassmen and underclassmen, as well as for females and males to alleviate that problem.
She said that she was comfortable with this new system, and the only problem is that there will never be enough housing to house all students. “But, we do our best to assist them.”The administration is aware of the confusion that occurred when the system malfunctioned during the first day of the application process.
“Dr. Pierce was very concerned about it…We’re working to eliminate that glitch that caused it,” Smith said.
Smith explained that the problem more than likely resulted from the way the system was set up. The fields were already populated, or filled in, which may have caused the problem. For the future, the fields will probably not be populated, and the students will have to fill in all information.
“I just don’t understand why we are doing this online process, because it never works out,” said Shonda Goins, junior mass communications major. I think the way they created the new process is good, when they go by GPA and classification, instead of just whoever submitted their application first. This year it’s more fair.”
According to Smith, with Brown Hall being closed for renovation and the building of the new dorm Foundation Heights, there will only be a gain of 60 spaces. Thus, Foundation Heights will likely be predominantly female residents. Among some of the changes is the transition of Wilson Hall from co-ed to strictly a male dorm. This is due to the closing of Brown Hall, WSSU’s only all-male residence hall .
When everything is said and done, students who did not receive a housing assignment or a room of their choice will be able to attend one or both of the housing fairs scheduled for April. For more information call the Office of Housing and Residence Life at (336) 750-3400.