WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With just over a month to go until the start of the fall semester, 700 Purdue students have received new housing assignments. They immediately responded with a petition that already has more than 1,100 signatures.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said he signed a contract in October for a single room but received an email Wednesday informing him he would have a roommate.
“We recognize that these changes may require students to adjust their housing plans,” the email said. “Approximately 11% of returning students will have their housing assignment modified or be assigned an additional occupant to a selected space.”
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Some students were told they would be relocated and others would have to accept an additional occupant in rooms not designed for them.
“I fear that continuing to pack too many students into places that are not adequately accommodated is just going to create very poor experiences for incoming and returning students,” the anonymous student shared.
The next day, after an immediate reaction, the university issued a statement giving affected students the option of keeping their original contracts, terminating them, or accepting the proposed alternative in exchange for a $4,000 reduction in their accommodation fee.
“Although we set out to reduce tuition and admitted a smaller percentage of undergraduate applicants for fall 2024 than ever before, during the crucial decision-making period of late April and May this spring, students voted with their feet to come to Purdue, accepting their admission offers at historically unprecedented levels,” the university’s statement said. “This resulted in more students than ever applying for residence hall housing.”
“As far as I know, this has been an ongoing issue specifically regarding over-admission of freshmen with no housing available for them,” the anonymous student added.
Total Enrollment last fall exceeded 52,000. That represents an increase of more than 6,000 students compared to 2020.
“The rooms in Harrison, at least on that floor, are only for double rooms, but they’re cramming three people into them,” freshman Erika Chiommino said when describing her living arrangement.
Incoming freshman Erika Chiommino said her summer housing assignment was also different than anticipated.
“There are only two closets, so for the third person it’s like, oh, where do they put their clothes and stuff like that? But in the end it worked out well for us because we were able to share the space between the three of us,” Chiommino said.
Purdue University President Mung Chiang explained in a social media post that the fall 2024 undergraduate admissions rate was the lowest in the school’s history, with the goal being to enroll 300 fewer freshmen than the usual target number. However, an additional 1,600 high school seniors unexpectedly committed to Purdue.
“Next year, construction will be completed on the new dorms approved last year. And we will significantly reduce the admissions rate even further, simply because the city’s housing and housing capacity is not growing as fast as the demand for education at Purdue,” Chiang said on social media. “But now, in addition to the hard work of many colleagues to secure many more beds across the city as a first-instance response since late May, we must further refine housing solutions for all Boilermaker students this fall — both new and returning students. All units across the university are working very hard today to find a better and better response.”
A university spokesperson declined our request for an interview and referred us back to where he came from. statement.
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