University of Virginia Library

A Small Proposal

Two years ago the University was having
such a hard time filling up the dormitories
that it was ready to require all first-year
students to pay a $100 deposit on a
dormitory room for their second year. The
money was to be forfeited if a student chose
to live off-Grounds his second year. Last
spring the Housing Office had to turn down
several hundred undergraduates who wanted
to live in University housing. And the housing
situation in Charlottesville will get worse
before it gets better. Very little expansion in
dormitory living space is slated over the next
two years, while student enrollment will be
climbing. This spring there may very well be
thousands, instead of hundreds, of students
turned away for lack of space.

The problem is not a simple one. By state
law the University can receive no funds from
the legislature for housing. Hopefully the new
constitution will allow the University to
borrow the money needed to construct new
housing facilities. But even if the University is
allowed to sell bonds after the constitutional
referendum this fall there will be at least a
two-year lag between the planning of new
dormitories or residential colleges and actual
occupancy.

Another part of the problem has been the
change in student tastes in housing. In the
past students have preferred to move
off-Grounds after their first year. But as
parking problems have mounted and rental
rates for off-Grounds housing have soared the
dormitories have become rather attractive for
most students. Also as the female enrollment
climbs so will the demand for dormitory
space because many parents will probably
insist that their daughters live in dormitories.

Now the University in the past has stated
that it is only responsible to house the
students it requires to live in dormitories. But
there is a growing feeling that the University
will quickly become a commuter school if
housing near the University is not
constructed. Hopefully that housing will be
under construction before long but during the
next two years the housing crunch will
become critical. For that reason we suggest
that the Housing Office, instead of allocating
rooms to upperclass undergraduates this
spring on a first-come first-served basis as has
been done in the past, allocate rooms on the
basis of financial need. As off-Grounds
housing rents soar many of the less affluent
students at the University are simply not
going to be able to afford decent housing. The
Housing Office would not necessarily have to
make its own investigation of a student's
financial background, it could simply get the
information from the Office of Financial Aid.

The University is currently trying to
recruit disadvantaged students. This housing
plan would be one more incentive which, if
not given, will mean that disadvantaged
students will go elsewhere or skip college
altogether, leaving the University with a
student body drawn largely from the middle
classes.

The ultimate solution to the housing
problem will come only with more housing.
But in the next two or three years this
temporary plan could be put into effect.
Certainly it deserves serious consideration.