AU Housing and Dining Programs recently hosted a series of forums and events for students who are interested in moving off-campus next semester. The goal is not to kick students off campus, but to provide enough resources for those who are interested, said Housing and Dining's Associate Director of Guest and Visitor Services Ed Gilhool.
"We know that living on-campus is a great benefit to students," Gilhool said. "We encourage students to stay as long as they feel comfortable staying and they want to. We really focus on the students who are identifying to us that 'I'm interested in moving off-campus' and so we then work with them and provide resources and try to help them in that process if they want to go."
Many of the events, like the "Moving On, Moving Off" information sessions, were done in previous years and revived this year, while the off-campus housing fair, held Wednesday, was brand new, according to Gilhool.
Of the roughly 6,000 undergraduate students that attend AU, 3,700 of them live on campus, he said.
Housing and Dining also has a Web site resource for students who are looking for properties off-campus. The site, which lets students access listings by neighborhood, has been running for almost two years, he said.
When Housing and Dining accepts listings from property owners for the site, the office looks for, but is not limited to, properties that are close to campus and are affordable to students, with a ballpark figure of between $600-$1100 for a one-bedroom unit, Gilhool said.
"We've got [listings from property owners] well out in Virginia to just up the block," he said. "So [the Web site] is pretty vast in terms of distance and location. The costs certainly vary."
Worksheets that outline strategies for signing leases, working with property owners and budgeting funds are also available through Housing and Dining, according to Gilhool. He said his guest and visitor services team hopes to expand its offerings by holding more "Moving On, Moving Off" presentations, increasing the amount of listings on its Web site as well as widening the scope of the site by adding a roommate and carpool posting board.
"Our intent is not to get rid of students or to force by any means students off-campus," Gilhool said. "We know that students are feeling like that's a good next step for them. So if we can support them in that decision we will."
Gilhool said he was not sure whether Housing and Dining would need to renew contracts with Georgian Apartments in Silver Spring, Md., or Holiday Inn Georgetown like last semester. As of press time, Housing and Dining did not plan to implement the $500 gift card incentive, which upperclassmen students who terminated their on-campus housing contracts last summer received.
"Every year is different, because you can't necessarily predict how many students are going to apply, be admitted," Gilhool said. "I think we'll have a much clearer sense once the deposit date comes up [in May]. And that's typically where we're able to get a really good picture of where are we with occupancy, and from that point forward able to make some decisions. At this point in time it's difficult to know for sure."
Jamie Mackey, a sophomore in the School of International Service who attended the off-campus housing fair, said she plans to move off campus next semester.
"I think there's a lot of incentive to move off-campus right now and there's a lot of great resources," she said. "I think [Housing and Dining is] trying to encourage it because of how crowded the dorms are becoming in the last couple of years. So I think they've been really helpful."
Paul Brueny, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, attended both the "Moving On, Moving Off" information session and the off-campus housing fair and said both were helpful to students.
"I thought it was pretty informative," he said. "It wasn't necessarily a lot of things that we didn't know, but it was good to have it in one place. It was definitely good to start thinking about that [moving off-campus]."
You can reach this staff writer at thallerman@theeagleonline.com.
