A Sea Of Red

So I thought I would be staying at the Lynchburg inn this fall when I heard that main campus was full around the time i completed financial check in. turns out EVERY ROOM IN THE LYNCHBURG INN is full too. I got this e-mail today:

The Office of Student Housing has received your request regarding housing for the Fall 2009 Semester.

If you have been trying to select housing, you have noticed there is no housing available to select. This is completely correct - housing has filled up this year at an unprecedented pace and Main Campus, Campus East, and the Lynchburg Inn are full.

Given these circumstances, we need to be aware of your intentions for the fall semester.

1. If you intend to live off campus, please complete an Off-Campus Application through ASIST if you have not already done so. This will allow you to confirm your intentions with us so that we can update your account and allow the housing fee to be removed from your Financial Check-in. (If you would like to live off campus, but you do not meet the qualifications, please email the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Mark Hine at vpstudentaffairs@liberty.edu .)

2. If living off campus is NOT an option for you, please click on the following link and fill out the indicated form to place yourself onto the Housing Wait List. The form may be found at http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?pid=12951&sid=79.


The Office of Student Housing is continuing to assign students to housing as rooms become available. Assignments will be made on a first come, first serve basis, according to completion date of Financial Check In. Our office will make every effort to accommodate each student.

However, please know that we cannot guarantee an assignment. It is likely that we may not be able to fulfill some requests from our wait list, and we recommend that you look into off campus accommodations as well.


If you have any questions, please contact our office.

Regards,

Office of Student Housing
housing@liberty.edu

Kids like me will most likely now be turned away even though we have completed financial check-in and had every intention of coming back.
Even if i get approved for living off campus I have no car nor the funds to purchase one, nor anyway to find a roommate anywhere.

If I could i would let you sleep on the floor in my quad til you got a room on campus, but it doesnt work that way. That sucks man.

This happens at most schools around the country. It sucks, but it happens.

Here's a thought. Curb enrollment. If you don't have the ability to house students, don't let so many in. Start culling the herd at the bottom of the barrel.

I thought they already did that.

LUconn wrote:I thought they already did that.

Clearly, they haven't.

No, they curbed enrollment and cut it at 11,400 again. However, more people decided to live on campus this year than they expected. That's why this happened.

At public schools this isnt a big deal b/c anyone can live off campus. This is tougher here b/c now you have to try and pick and choose those that are your best choices to move off and hopefully they do not take advantage of the situation.

A few years ago they ran out of housing for either guys or girls. A ton of kids got to move off campus for it because of that. Because of the shortage, kids that were originally scheduled to live on campus moved off, and that allowed the waiting list kids to get a room on campus. You'll see a run of 19-20 year old sophomores and juniors start applying to live off campus within the next week.

this same thing happened to me last year. I drove down last august to school not knowing where I was going when I got to lynchburg. I slept in my car that first night and had an apartment the next day with some guys who turned out to be great friends. The despair I went through turned into one of the best blessings of last year, and somehow things fell into place that I ended up being able to buy a house by the end of the first semester due to a gift from someone in my dads church.

Anyways, if you have no luck finding somewhere to live, I have an empty room in my house that is for rent for $250, or if you need a place to stay until you find a place let me know

I guess it happened last year too. My cousin lived with me the first semester.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but keep in mind that LU students can use the Lynchburg transit system for free, so if you find a place near a bus stop, you can still get around town, or at least to school. And there are plenty of apartments within walking distance of the school. Living on campus is awesome, but if you can hang in there for a semester, things will probably work out for you.

Every school has unique traditions....one of ours is to bring in hundreds of students who will have no place to stay. The details each year are slightly different (ie cheese bus / Ramada etc.), but the theme is the same. It's the "we'll make it work" method. Seriously, I love LU!

It makes you wonder how big LU could be if they had more housing. If they built dorms for another 5,000 students, do you think they could fill them? I wonder how close Liberty is to fulfilling the dream Falwell had about 25,000 students on campus? Is the only thing really holding them back a lack of housing?

belcherboy wrote:It makes you wonder how big LU could be if they had more housing. If they built dorms for another 5,000 students, do you think they could fill them? I wonder how close Liberty is to fulfilling the dream Falwell had about 25,000 students on campus? Is the only thing really holding them back a lack of housing?

THey are trying to give quality or quantity.

belcherboy wrote:It makes you wonder how big LU could be if they had more housing. If they built dorms for another 5,000 students, do you think they could fill them? I wonder how close Liberty is to fulfilling the dream Falwell had about 25,000 students on campus? Is the only thing really holding them back a lack of housing?

I think there are some local ordinances that also won't allow that many residents in that area. I remember there being something about 10k being the cap and then they were able to get that raised after they already had that many students but I can't remember what the new limit was if there was one.

LUconn wrote:

belcherboy wrote:It makes you wonder how big LU could be if they had more housing. If they built dorms for another 5,000 students, do you think they could fill them? I wonder how close Liberty is to fulfilling the dream Falwell had about 25,000 students on campus? Is the only thing really holding them back a lack of housing?

I think there are some local ordinances that also won't allow that many residents in that area. I remember there being something about 10k being the cap and then they were able to get that raised after they already had that many students but I can't remember what the new limit was if there was one.

i think it was raised to 15,000. Its on this site somewhere, around the time the 5 year master plan came out. It appears they are starting the road that will go behind the east dorms to allow another row of dorms back there, but that could just be me.

My super secret source has just told me that all kids without a home will be living on East Campus. There are apparently some rooms that are bigger that will now have 3 kids instead of 2.


Cue the complaints from the East Campus kids.

yeah the A and B rooms on east campus are so much larger than the C rooms.

that sucks for them now

flamerbob wrote:

belcherboy wrote:It makes you wonder how big LU could be if they had more housing. If they built dorms for another 5,000 students, do you think they could fill them? I wonder how close Liberty is to fulfilling the dream Falwell had about 25,000 students on campus? Is the only thing really holding them back a lack of housing?

THey are trying to give quality or quantity.

Exactly, Bob. When Doc was still alive, he wanted quantity more. That was the cause for many rules changes in the 90's. Also, admissions standards were low (been discussed on this site ad nauseum). It was kind of like the practice of some mega-churches: "If they're alive and joined once, keep them on the roll! Then, tell everyone we have over 50,000 members."

JJ's decisions since assuming chancellorship suggest a shift towards quality, both in student population and infrastructure.

LUconn wrote:My super secret source has just told me that all kids without a home will be living on East Campus. There are apparently some rooms that are bigger that will now have 3 kids instead of 2.


Cue the complaints from the East Campus kids.

If I still lived on East Campus, you bet I'd be complaining.

pansies....4 to a room was all we ever knew existed!

dcbailey wrote:pansies....4 to a room was all we ever knew existed!

and it probably sucked...

I refuse to become one of these kind of alum that say we had it so hard..I want the future students to have it better then I did

I mean they have got to do what they have got to do, and it isn't the end of the world...but hopefully a better solution will be worked out soon enough..and with what JJ has done so far, I have no doubt it will be

The rumor of three to a room on east campus is enough to make some of the east campus kids move off campus.

thepostman wrote:

dcbailey wrote:pansies....4 to a room was all we ever knew existed!

and it probably sucked...

I refuse to become one of these kind of alum that say we had it so hard..I want the future students to have it better then I did

I mean they have got to do what they have got to do, and it isn't the end of the world...but hopefully a better solution will be worked out soon enough..and with what JJ has done so far, I have no doubt it will be

I should have finished my post by adding, "I'm joking!"