All rising juniors and seniors that applied for on-campus housing by the application date can live on campus this fall.
Chris Moody, assistant vice president of Housing and Dining, said all requests were met because fewer than 400 rising juniors and seniors applied for on-campus housing.
A 2010 cap limited on-campus housing to 400 upperclassmen.
Moody attributes the lower demand to the lack of desirable options on campus for rising juniors and seniors. He said rising juniors and seniors tend to prefer suite- and apartment-style housing.
The Campus Plan will add more suite- and apartment-style housing in Nebraska Hall and North Hall.
Moody said the addition of more suite- and apartment-style rooms on AU’s campus will prompt more rising juniors and seniors to prefer to live on campus.
When Nebraska Hall opened in 2007, all 115 beds for rising juniors and seniors were filled that year, Moody said.
Moody said all 87 percent of current freshmen students who applied for on-campus housing for this fall received it.
Moody said the numbers for rising sophomores returning to campus are high compared to the national benchmark of 60 percent, according to a 2009 report by Brailsford and Dunlavey.
“The percentage is still really high when you consider some of those students are withdrawing or transferring,” Moody said.
AU instituted the 400-max cap on upperclassmen because there was a desire to permit rising sophomores to remain on campus and a shortage of available beds on campus.
“[Rising sophomores] can learn the campus, learn the resources of campus, make connections and then have some choice about moving off campus, knowing the neighborhood, knowing the community [and] knowing how transportation works,” Moody said.
