WKU Making Adjustments To Deal
With High Housing Demand

Bowling Green, Ky. - Increasing enrollment, improved residence halls and two halls under renovation have led to high housing demand at Western Kentucky University. That demand has caused the university to amend its housing policies.

"We cannot house all of the students who have asked for a housing assignment," said Kit Tolbert, director of housing operations. "We have told students who applied before June 1 that we will find on-campus housing for them."

The Department of Housing and Residence Life has already taken several steps to maximize the number of beds available to students, especially incoming freshmen, who want to live on campus.

"We are asking sophomores who wish to move off-campus to contact us," Tolbert said. "The first 100 who ask to be exempt from the sophomore housing policy will be allowed out of their housing contract and receive a refund of their deposits. We just need to know as soon as possible so that we can re-assign that space."

Tolbert added that the Housing office is creating a waiting list for freshmen who wish to live on campus should space become available.

On-campus housing is especially important to freshmen, according to Gene Tice, vice president for Student Affairs and Campus Services.

"For many students, this is their first time living away from home," Dr. Tice said. "Residence hall living can help them make the transition."

Although the situation is presenting some problems, it is an indication of the good things that are happening at Western, Dr. Tice said.

"Our residence hall renovations have created a demand for on-campus housing," he said. "We have nearly 500 additional returning upperclassmen who have requested to live in the halls. We have about 500 beds that are unavailable because of renovations to Bemis-Lawrence and Bates-Runner halls. In addition, we appear to be headed toward a record freshman class."

Western is working with the owners and managers of several apartment complexes that cater to college students to identify potential housing for students.

"While we would like to honor the request of every student who wants to live on campus, this year that won't be possible," Tolbert said. "But we're doing everything we can to help students who want to come to Western find a place to live."

For more information, contact Kit Tolbert at (270) 745-2100. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

-WKU-