Students Test Luck in Housing Lottery For Eagle Village

Off-campus students will be able to participate in the Residence Life housing lottery this spring, according to Director of Residence Life Chris Porter.

Off-campus students, according to Porter, will now be placed at the end of their class in the lottery system, giving them a better chance of returning to on-campus housing.

According to Porter, in the past students who wished to return to campus would have to wait until on-campus had completed their lottery selection, leaving them with minimal options.

“So, for example, on-campus seniors would sign up first, then off-campus seniors. Then on-campus juniors, then off-campus juniors,” Porter said.

Off-campus students may also register with residential students living on campus now.

“They can either sign up with current on-campus students or participate in the lottery,” Porter said.

According to Porter, juniors, seniors and graduate students will be permitted to live in Eagle Village. The University will offer school-year and 12-month lease options. Students with a 12-month lease can also renew their lease without going through housing selection again.

“In effect, they have a 24-month lease,” Porter said.

When Eagle Village opens in August 2010, both Mason Hall and Randolph Hall will be closed for renovation, Porter said. To compensate, an upperclassmen residence hall will be converted into a freshman residence hall. The Office of Residence Life has not yet decided which dorm will be converted.

Junior Clark Castillo thinks that this decision is fair for the students who left on-campus housing.

“Some [students] most likely left due to wanting some form of stability in housing, which would not be allowed by the current housing shortage.,” Castillo said. “As such, it seems perfectly fair that they [should] be able to take advantage of the new facilities, now that there is less of a housing shortage.”

Castillo also thinks that many off-campus students will not try to live on campus again.

“It is an option, not a requirement, so while there may be some who take advantage of this, not all students necessarily will,” Castillo said.
However, junior Matt Keaton believes that the Eagle Village project is harmful to the university’s students.

“I think that Eagle Village is a large construction project that has marred the campus’s appeal, and is pulling the university down the road to expansion that is not in concert with the best interests of the students who attend here,” Keaton said.

The Eagle Village apartments will be more modern and will have more amenities than the UMW Apartments, according to Jeff Rountree, executive director and CEO of the UMW Foundation.

The kitchens in the Eagle Village apartments will be equipped with stainless steel countertops, according to Rountree. There will be two bedrooms and two full bathrooms with large windows in each apartment.

Porter said the apartments will have one couch, lounge chairs, a coffee table, end table, entertainment unit, lamps, and a breakfast bar with four stools, along with the traditional bedroom furnishings.

Students will have the option of paying extra to lease a parking spot in the parking garage, which will be equipped with a gate and a swipe-card entrance, according to Rountree.

“There will be an additional charge if residents want their own VOIP phone in their rooms or additional internet or cable services” Porter said.

According to Rick Pearce, associate vice president for business and finance, the university’s Board of Visitors will decide on the price rates for Eagle Village housing in April of 2010.

The current price for residence halls ranges from $1,995 to $2,711, depending on whether the room is a single, double, triple or quad.  The UMW Apartments range from $2,210 to $2,976, depending on whether it is a single, double or triple-room apartment, according to the UMW website.