Resident students at Marywood University will have to adapt to significant updates in the room selection process starting April 2013. The updates promise to maximize housing options for students who intend to return to Marywood each semester.

The room selection process in previous years consisted of students filling out the housing and dining agreement, completing the housing and dining preference form, and having a receipt from the cashier’s office for the $300.00 housing deposit.

For the 2013-2014 academic year, registration for fall 2013 courses will be a prerequisite for participation in the room selection process. This is in addition to the original requirements above. Those who are not registered for courses will be unable to pick a housing assignment. The new policy will allow students who plan on returning to Marywood to have their pick of the best housing.

The application process for themed housing, which is students with common interests applying to live in the same community, is also changing. Students interested in themed housing will need to demonstrate how they will educate community members and give back to the larger Marywood community.

Representatives from housing and residence life, the resident representative from student government, a member of the residence hall advisory board, and interested faculty and staff will comprise the committee that will approve the themed housing.

Two things prompted Ross Novak, director of housing and residence life, to make changes to the room selection process.

“When I came on board, one of the first things I had to work to resolve was the number of people who had selected rooms for the fall semester but weren’t actually registered for classes,” said Novak. Not knowing for certain that students intended to return in the following semester made planning difficult, he said.

But, even before Novak came into the director position, a committee had recommended that registration be incorporated into the housing assignment process.

Before revisions to the room selection process were made, Novak met with student government and the residence hall advisory board to get opinions and feedback on the new process and said that the feedback he received had been positive.

Joe Heisler, senior resident student, said he thinks making registration a prerequisite for room selection will create more problems than benefits for resident students.

“You have to pay your bill off before you can register for classes, and some students can’t pay off their entire bill. They do it little by little throughout the whole semester,” said Heisler. “I think it’s going to be more pressure on the students and cause more problems for the housing department.”

Resident students did have the opportunity to voice any concerns over the changes to the room selection process. Novak sent an e-mail to make students aware that the timeline for room selection was shifting and also notify them of the general changes to the process.
“I asked in that e-mail if people had an interest in working with me on the changes to contact me,” said Novak. “I hope if people had any concerns about the changes they would let me know.”