Online options now available to make process simpler

Student residents returning in the fall may now submit their online housing application to Residential Life. Housing assignments will be given to students on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The cost includes a $50 application fee and a $200 prepayment for fall 2012 housing charges. The prepayment must be paid by June 1, or the application will be cancelled.

Although the application process will be open throughout the summer, it is recommended that returning students apply by March 31 in order to obtain their requested assignments.

The online housing application, which was available last year to incoming freshmen, is new this year to returning residents. The process was changed to make it easier for current residents to submit their applications online rather than in person as was required in previous years.

Ryan Byrd, a pre-pharmacy junior from Madisonville, applied for a Bayou Village apartment last spring and plans on returning in the fall.

“I wish they had [the online application] a year earlier,” he said, “[My suitemates and I] waited outside for 12 hours for Residential Life to open to put in our application, but this is good for people applying now.”

Students will be notified of their building assignments by the end of April, according to Tresea Buckhaults, director of Residential Life.  Over the summer, letters will be sent to students notifying them of their room number and roommate/suitemate.

“Once assignments are made, we will be checking GPAs to make sure [students] have at least a 2.0 in order to live on campus,” said Buckhaults.

Buckhaults also explained the reasoning behind the difference in price between Madison Hall, the all male dorm, and Masur Hall, the all female dorm.

“Masur is one of the original residence halls,” she said, “We do renovations each year, but we still down the price. The rooms are also smaller than those in Ouachita and Madison.”