By Emily Timberlake

Year after year, students at Northeastern enter the housing lottery in hopes of getting a good number that will put them far ahead of other students in the housing hunt. This hope is not a reality for some 1,600 students who have been placed on the wait list for ’03-’04.

Carrie Lemasa, assistant director for Residence Services, says the number of beds available for the 2003-04 academic year will be the same as the current academic year, at just over 6,400. The number of beds will not go up until fall of ’04, when West Campus G and H,are placed online as added available housing.

With dozens of student housing options, hundreds of available beds to choose from and thousands of students in need of housing, finding places for everyone is difficult. The lottery system is the university’s way of trying to make the process as fair as possible.

Lottery numbers are weighted by class year, so essentially, the rising seniors receive the better lottery numbers, and so on. They will participate in the Room Selection Forum held March 31 through April 3, Lemesa said.

The rising juniors and rising middlers will make their selections on these dates as well, with most of the rising sophomores selecting in May at the second forum.

Despite the fact that the rising freshmen are the last group of students to make their housing selections, Lemasa said this is no reason for students to get discouraged. Last year’s freshman class currently takes up 44 percent of the west campus residence halls, which are a popular choice among students. Each dorm costs a different price, which makes the decision on which dorm to choose perhaps a little bit easier.

“What we think students like about the housing system at NU is that we have such a variety of options, both aesthetically and financially, to choose from,” Lemasa said.

Since only freshmen and sophomores are guaranteed housing, many students have to rely on other places to live while attending Northeastern. Lemasa says approximately 5,800 students applied for housing for 2003-04. For the students who applied and are not assured housing, many are placed on a waiting list.

“There is always a chance for students on the wait list to receive an offer for housing if he or she submits a wait list response form and keeps updated contact information. Last year we were able to house approximately 800 students from the wait list by opening day in September. We anticipate being able to house many, but are not able to speculate how many at this point.”

When students fill out their housing form, many assume that they will automatically be placed with the person or people that they selected. Sometimes, however, this is not the case.

“There is always the possibility that when roommate sets come to the Room Selection Forum they might not be able to find two, three, fou, or five spaces together that are still available within the same apartment. In this case the set may have to split up, which is clearly outlined on the Housing Application, Lemasa said.”

Sara Bill, a sophomore communications major, said going into her sophomore year she had almost the last number in the lottery. This year she is on the wait list.

“I am looking elsewhere for housing, because I am going abroad next year and I can’t take the chance. Last year I was split up from my group and put in a single spot available in West Campus. The people I signed up to room with were put next door, so it wasn’t bad.”

For those who choose to live off-campus or do not feel like waiting to see if they have made if off of the waiting list, the university provides assistance for students in the search for alternative housing options. For those students, Lemasa says that they will receive a very detailed letter informing them of their status.

This letter lists several “apartment hunting and tenant rights” workshops that are sponsored by the Off-Campus Resources Office, located on the second floor of the Curry Student Center. This office also supplies students with off-campus apartment and roommate listings, in hopes of making the search a bit easier on the students.

Melanie Molinari, a junior marketing major, did not want to live on campus because she too admits it did not give her enough time to find an apartment. When Molinari was a sophomore, there was no housing guarantee, so she has found off-campus housing every year since then.

“My sophomore year I did have a tough time finding housing, but with so many [realtors] around, and the amount of places available to live, finding a place to live was not that difficult, and this year I only [have] a five minute walk from campus, so it all works out.”

Alex Engelson, a middler criminal justice major,said that the lottery system is fair, but he is still planning on finding his own housing.

“I am 1,600 on the waiting list,” Engelson said. “I don’t think there’s much the school can do with the available land, and they do what they can with what they have.”

Engelson is currently commuting from Framingham, and was wait-listed last year as well.

Check out www.housing.neu.edu for more information on housing on and off campus.