Demand for on-campus housing is currently at its highest level in five years, causing AU to place more than half of the freshman class in temporary triples and to offer upperclassmen alternative living arrangements in a hotel and apartment complex.
Enrollment has spiked in a number of programs, mainly because of the prospect of being in the nation's capital for the 2008 presidential election, said Chris Moody, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs.
"We're facing a good problem where AU has grown into a great place to be," he said. "That has grown to all corners of the university."
Over the summer, AU gave returning students several housing options, including rooms in the Holiday Inn Georgetown on Wisconsin Avenue, or the Georgian Apartments in Silver Spring, Md. The university also offered students $500 per semester in prepaid credit cards if they chose to cancel their housing agreement prior to July 3. Students who chose to live at the Holiday Inn or in Silver Spring are paying the same as they would if they lived in a standard residence hall double room, according to e-mails Housing and Dining sent to students June 25 and July 15.
As of Aug. 15, 48 students are living at the Holiday Inn, with the majority being Abroad at AU students, according to Moody. Twenty-four are living at the Georgian, most of whom are transfer students.
Moody said Housing and Dining did not offer accommodations in apartments closer to campus, such as the Berkshire Apartments on Massachusetts Avenue, because they did not have large enough blocks of rooms available.
Due to the financial agreements AU has made with the Georgian and Holiday Inn, students living in university or university-sponsored housing will now incur a penalty for canceling their housing agreements. Students will pay 25 percent of their housing fees through Sept. 2. If a student is living in a double room, this is $1,032.25.
After that, the penalty will be 50 percent for the second week of classes, 75 percent for the third week and 100 percent thereafter.
Students still opted to live on campus, resulting in a record number of students being tripled.
As of Monday morning, 873 freshmen - approximately 55 percent of the freshman class - were in 291 temporary triples, Moody said. There are 15 more temporary triples than in 2003, the previous five-year high.
Hannah Smith, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences who currently lives in a tripled room, said she did not mind the experience.
"It's clean, it's big and it's not bad," she said.
Dan Wechsler, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business who lives in a tripled room, said he was not happy with the lack of privacy.
"With a triple, there's no time to yourself and it's crowded," he said.
Housing and Dining preferred to give students options to free up campus housing instead of forcing students out, Moody said.
"We decided that no one would be forced into a situation to leave campus housing," he said. "We strategized a campaign to give students a choice."
Housing is also limited on AU's Tenley campus, which normally houses the Washington Mentorship Program and Washington Semester Program. This year, AU will need to house up to 98 Washington Semester Program students on Capitol Hill at Washington Internship Student Housing (WISH). These students still attend classes on the AU campus, and AU gave them $100 in Metro fare cards, according to Moody.
"The acquisition of WISH housing enabled us to successfully house the Washington Mentorship Program and many transfer students on the Tenley Campus this fall," Moody said in an e-mail.
You can reach this staff writer at eklapper@theeagleonline.com.
