Quincy University’s housing system is getting a remodel this upcoming year, in more ways than one. With the largest expected incoming freshman class that the university has had in years, the housing lottery system, availability for single rooms, as well as room options will change. 

“So for next year, when I found out that there is gonna be possibly up to 100 additional residents, I was nervous. It’s gonna make for a tighter fit, it’s gonna mean that more students who got to live by themselves this year may not get to live by themselves next year. It also is going to mean that move arounds and shuffles are going to be much more challenging to do. Because instead of being able to move into a space next door to you, you actually have to find someone you are much more compatible living with. That will mostly apply to the spaces of Helein, Garner and Willer because those are the ones that actually have built spaces,” William Joshua Jacobs, director of residence life, said. 

This anticipation of a larger class was discovered by the enrollment office, which let other departments know so they could adjust accordingly. 

“Looking historically at the number of students who get accepted and come to our institution, we think it is going to come out to be a larger class. Last year we had 232 freshmen, the number this year could be in the upper 270s, lower 280s. So that would be enough of a student increase to cause us to look at how we house students. We also will be looking at a lot of other questions, such as how we advise and those types of things. The hope is that with growth in applicants that we will see more students in the freshmen class. But we are a long way from declaring victory and going ‘woohoo’,” Thomas Oliver, vice president for enrollment management, said.

Currently Friars and Padua Halls are co-ed buildings, which will no longer be the case next year. Padua Hall will be all men, while Friars will only be an available selection option for women. Rooms that are now vacant will likely be filled, even turned into double occupancy rooms.

“I anticipate that we will have an average amount of people filling in the spaces of SLC, Woods apartments, the houses on university row and the rest of the balance will be the people who want to live together in Willer. If you seek out and want a single space for male options you have the third and fourth floors of Padua. For women who wish to have a single space by themselves you have the option of Friars Hall,” Jacobs said. 

When asking some students, who live on campus, how they feel about these changes, many expressed concern about having a roommate. As now even some freshmen, mostly women, have their own room. This will be evident with the new housing lottery system, which will occur after spring break week. 

“We are this year implementing an online lottery process for placements. Which means that students themselves will actually get to look through the available openings of buildings and actually select themselves where they would like to live, as well as who they would like to live with,” Jacobs said. 

The changes in occupancy will not only affect students choosing housing, but have had an impact on resident assistants and resident directors. 

“I think it will be a bit tougher to have all these extra students to deal with and everything. But I don’t think it will be too bad. For the students, some of them may have roommates and they may not have wanted a roommate,” Breanna Gratton, current and continuing resident assistant, said. 

Even though current students may be unhappy with the upcoming housing changes, incoming freshmen will have the usual freshmen experience. Next year’s plans regarding orientation are already in the works, only slightly changing because of the expected large number. 

“I do a lot of orientation planning and we have already added more activities for orientation, just because we have so many more incoming next year. We want there to be something for everyone to do,” Trenton Henderson, director of student engagement, said. 

Henderson says it is important to look out for the housing email after spring break because availability may be affected by what time you complete the housing selection process.