Some first-year students attending the University of Guelph may have trouble finding a place to stay during the semester.
The university recently announced that over 7,000 high school students across Ontario who had applied for programs at U of G have accepted offers of admission.
However, they say housing for new and returning students are not guaranteed for the upcoming school year. In a news release, U of G will accommodate 85 per cent of all students who applied for residence and of those accommodated, 95 per cent are Ontario students.
They go on to say that higher-than-anticipated acceptances means the university won’t be able to accommodate everyone who applied for housing.
Several people have contacted Global News indicating that their children who have enrolled in the university are currently on a waiting list for housing. Some have expressed frustration over the university’s handling of the situation.
“When prospective students were touring the university… a lot of them were told that they were confident that (there would be residence spots) for first-years,” said Nate Broughton, a second-year computer science student.
“This news (about being put on a wait-list) came as a big surprise to some people.”
Broughton is also a member of the Central Student Association board at the U of G. He said there are over 1,350 students currently on the waiting list due to over-enrolment.
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“There is no way that the university didn’t know that they didn’t have residence capacity to admit all these students,” said Broughton. “All of the sudden, it gets sprung on everybody with these huge wait-lists. It is really concerning.”
In the same news release, the university said it added housing inventory to its residences within the campus. They also extended their lease on the former Days Inn hotel on Gordon Street in order to add more capacity.
“We understand the uncertainty that comes with not receiving a residence confirmation,” Melinda Scott, vice-provost of student affairs, said in a statement.
“The U of G is committed to supporting students with information about off-campus housing and a suite of other services to help make their transition to university and their first year successful.”
Last October, city council approved the construction of a new student residence that will be built across the street from the university at the south-east corner of Stone Road and Gordon Street. The proposed development would add another 500 units to the student housing supply. Though work is underway, there is no word on when the new 11-storey building would be completed.
Broughton is hoping the news of students looking for housing will send a message to university officials on how dire the situation is. He said he is working on getting student leaders together to organize an advocacy campaign on the matter.
“If the university wants to keep admitting so many students, I think it’s really important that more residences need to be built,” he said. “Or the university needs to be completely upfront about the capacity they have and what the estimated wait-list will be.”
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