Dorm sign-up begins this fall; no official start date

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Students will worry about more than midterm exams during the next couple weeks. The midway point of the semester means it’s time for students to start deciding where to live next year.

University officials remain undecided on a sign-up date for on-campus residence halls, but Maria Giggy expects sign-up to begin sometime in November — similar to last year’s early November sign-up date. Giggy is a senior brand manager for marketing communications for the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services.

Lingering questions about several living-learning programs have delayed an announcement about residence hall sign-up.

“We don’t have dates yet and the reason for that is that we’ve got a number of fairly large programmatic decisions that still need to be made regarding living-learning programs next year,” she said.

“Until we have a really clear understanding (of which halls will host living-learning programs next year), we can’t start sign-up. We give students the ability to retain their own room, but we don’t want to have sign-up then turn around and tell them ‘Whoops, you can’t really live there.’”

For some students, a November residence hall sign-up date doesn’t offer enough time to make the important lifestyle decision.

Prenursing sophomore Camille Nash didn’t know where she wanted to live — or with whom — when Campus Living Services began its residence hall sign-up last fall.

“I felt kind of rushed because I had to try to find a room and decide whether I wanted a roommate or not,” Nash said.

“I didn’t want to go in blind (without knowing what the dorm looked like), so I went into each dorm I was interested in.”

The university traditionally has held its residence hall sign-up in the middle of fall semester — weeks after the start of the academic year. Giggy said officials hear student complaints about the quick turnaround from adjusting to college to picking next year’s residence.

“The university actually has expressed interest in not having the sign-up start as early as some off-campus apartment leases,” Giggy said.

“We want to make sure students have an opportunity to experience what it is to live in a residence hall.”

Rooms in South Complex and Shaw Hall tend to be the first to go once sign-up begins, but Giggy said students shouldn’t feel pressure to make a decision by November.

“Our process is typically spread over several months,” Giggy said. “Students can sign-up at any time from the time we start to the time halls close in May.”

Next year, Emmons Hall will be unavailable as the Brody Complex undergoes renovations. The hall is scheduled to reopen in August 2011.

The university can house about 14,500 students each semester and Giggy estimates about 2,000 single rooms for next year will be available. In the past, students were able to secure single rooms before the university opened registration for people looking to live with roommates.

Giggy said she is unsure whether that system will change.

This year will be the second year MSU orchestrates its Campus Living Services sign-up online. Officials will focus on making the language used on the registration form easier to understand and improving how information about the date is distributed to students, Giggy said.

Students choose to live off-campus for various reasons, but Department of Residence Life Director Paul Goldblatt said his department doesn’t hold any grudges.

“For us, it’s about what’s best for students,” Goldblatt said.

“We offer that convenience, which is a big thing. We can meet the physical and emotional needs of students and, in my mind, I think we can do it a bit better than those off campus.”

The freedom of living off campus and more personal space are two of the main benefits fueling students’ decision to ditch the dorms, said Matt Hagan, an agent with Hagan Reality Inc.

The property management group operates about 170 units in East Lansing, Hagan said.

“It’s more of an atmosphere of what they grew up in as opposed to living in a dorm-style living situation,” Hagan said. “It’s a little more freedom.”

Lines will wrap around buildings on the first day to sign leases at DTN Management’s more popular communities, such as the Oaks Apartments, 136 Reniger Court.

Hannah Crosby, DTN Management sales, marketing and training director, said the property management group offers hot cider and coffee to potential residents as they wait in line.

Students can begin signing leases with DTN Management Co. at noon Oct. 18. Crosby said the group encourages people to arrive at their preferred community between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.

“We try to do everything we can to make it comfortable for them and fun and exciting,” Crosby said. “It’s been working for us.”

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