Coming this fall: Students won't have to gamble anymore on-campus housing

Winston-Salem State students have spoken and Housing and Residence Life has listened. 

The lottery-style housing assignment process will not be making a comeback, and changes in the housing process will be effective as soon as next semester, according to Director of Housing and Residence Life Peter Blutreich. 

According to a survey, which 879 students participated in, approximately 17 percent said that they were dissatisfied with the current room assignment process.

The Enrollment Management Committee enacted the housing lottery fall 2009, when the University had approximately 6,400 students and about 2,400 bed spaces. 

Replacing the selection process based on classification and GPA, the lottery caused WSSU students to be anxious because they were denied campus housing. According to the April 21, 2009 issue of The News Argus, on-campus housing was not guaranteed to students who applied for the lottery, and some students transferred or moved off campus. The committee said that lottery was "...a fair way to assign student housing." 

Blutreich said students didn't particularly like the lottery. 

"In this case, we just felt that based on our numbers and the amount of students that have requested housing in the past two years, we've got the space."

Replacing this process will be what Blutreich calls a "first-come, first-serve" basis. 

Now, students in groups of four will have the opportunity to secure a suite of their choice with this new housing process. 

"Any group of four who wants to sign up can pretty much pick a spot that has four beds and move on in," Blutreich said. 

He said that sophomores cannot take part in this priority selection, unless they are in the honors program. 

"I prefer that they allow us to choose who we live with versus having the lottery system," said Eboni Graham, a senior justice studies major from Charlotte. 

"At least you really have a choice about where you want to live and who you want to live with, as long as you have the GPA to qualify for it."

Groups of three will have their chance to pick their rooms based on the availability of rooms. Other spots will be filled online through the traditional online application process.